58-year-old Ferrum man charged with two counts of felony animal cruelty after reporting two dogs stolen

The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office arrested the co-owner of two dogs that were reported stolen at the entrance to Waid Park and were found dead a week later. The dogs’ bodies were found on Thursday.

A news release from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office says that 58-year-old Terry Eugene Michel of Ferrum is charged with two counts of felony animal cruelty, one count of filing a false police report, and two summonses for improperly getting rid of a companion animal. He is being kept in jail without a bail.

Michel told the police on February 7 that two men in an off-white Jeep Grand Cherokee took his two black Labradors, Caleb and Colby.

Reports say that Michel said that Caleb and Colby got away from him while he was chasing a squirrel on a trail in Waid Park. He said that the two men who took the dogs parked near the park’s entrance, just out of sight of the cameras.

Several groups in the area got together in the days after the theft was reported. Caleb and Colby were missing, and the Franklin County Humane Society offered a $2,000 reward for their safe return. There was a Facebook page set up to help find the dogs.

Caleb and Colby’s bodies were found on the side of the road on Tuesday, about 4 miles from Waid Park in the 500 block of Carolina Springs Road. After autopsies were done by the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech, gunshot wounds were found to be the cause of death. This was reported in a news release.

After Caleb and Colby died, the Franklin County Humane Society started collecting money for a reward to find out who was responsible. A park memorial for them is also being paid for with money that is being raised.

Terry Michels’s wife, Rhonda Michel, has also been helping find Caleb and Colby by working closely with the Franklin County Humane Society and other groups. The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office’s Sgt. Megan Huston said that Rhonda Michel has been helpful and doesn’t seem to have done anything wrong.

In the most recent news release, Huston made it clear that the most recent incident had nothing to do with Waid Park. After what happened, there have been several calls to make the park safer.

“The Sheriff’s Office is glad to be able to bring this case to a close, even though the reasons are still hard to understand. We’ve seen that a lot of people are worried about this happening at Waid Park Recreation Area, but we want to make sure you know that the reported theft and death of these dogs have nothing to do with Waid Park.