Attorney of accused animal hoarder seeks dying dad's statement

Geoffrey Peterson is charged with animal cruelty in Sequatchie County.
Geoffrey Peterson is charged with animal cruelty in Sequatchie County.

The day that fugitive nurse Geoffrey Deane Peterson turned himself over to Sequatchie County sheriff's deputies, his attorney sent an urgent letter to Hamilton County Chancellor Pamela Fleenor.

The man's father, Walter Peterson, ostensibly a doctor who ran and prescribed pills at the pain and hormone clinics where his son worked as a nurse practitioner, was ill and his death is "potentially imminent," Chattanooga attorney Ben McGowan wrote.

photo Geoffrey Peterson who is charged with animal cruelty in Sequatchie County.

Holistic Health and Primary Care and Hormone Replacement Specialists on Highway 153, the office where Peterson's father was listed as a primary doctor, was raided by the Drug Enforcement Agency in late January. Though Geoffrey Peterson was listed on one of the clinic's websites as a doctor, he never completed medical school.

As a licensed nurse practitioner, Peterson would only have been able to prescribe painkillers under the supervision of a doctor.

Sequatchie County deputies raided Geoffrey Peterson's Dunlap home in December and found more than 60 animals, mostly dogs, living in squalor and surrounded by feces. The dead bodies of dogs and an opossum were found in a freezer. On Dec. 19, he was charged with aggravated animal cruelty, animal cruelty and felony possession of morphine. The next day, deputies found three emaciated dogs in his medical practice office.

Police officers and adult protective services had tried to check on Peterson's 88-year-old father several times in January but were driven away by his son, they said. When DEA agents raided his father's Hixson home Jan. 23, they found Walter Peterson in poor condition. They charged the son and Walter Peterson's wife with willful neglect, abuse or exploitation of an adult.

The state suspended Geoffrey Peterson's nursing license in late January. He turned himself in to the Sequatchie County Sheriff's Office about 2 p.m. Monday, the sheriff said.

McGowan's letter to the chancellor concerns both pending criminal cases. He wrote that he has intended to take a sworn statement from Dr. Peterson, the father, for some time to be used in Geoffrey Peterson's pending criminal case. According to McGowan, a standing order in a conservatorship case regarding the father's estate requires preapproval from the court before McGowan can depose the father and get his statement.

McGowan said Tuesday that Geoffery Peterson is not trying to become conservator.

Peterson is expected to appear in Sequatchie County Court at 9 a.m. Friday.

Contact staff write Claire Wiseman at 423-757-6347. Follow her on Twitter @clairelwiseman.

Timeline of Geoffery Peterson investigation

* Dec. 19, 2014: Geoffery Deane Peterson is arrested after officers with the Sequatchie County Sheriff's Department found 58 animals, including dogs, cats, a pigeon and a goat, inside the home where he was living in Dunlap, Tenn. * Dec. 20: An officer with McKamey Animal Services found three emaciated dogs in the exam rooms at Holistic Health and Primary Care, where Peterson saw patients. * Dec. 23: McKamey officers removed seven more emaciated dogs from a home in Chattanooga that had been linked to Peterson. * Jan. 12, 2015: The Tennessee Department of Health sent an investigator to Peterson's hormone replacement clinic after receiving a complaint on Peterson's license. But Peterson locked the doors of the clinic and refused to let the investigator inside. On the same day, the investigator tried to speak to Peterson's father, Walter Peterson, at a home in Hixson. Before the investigator left his car, Geoffery Peterson arrived, banged on the car and demanded the investigator leave. * Jan. 15: Chattanooga police officers attempted to check on Walter Peterson but Geoffery Peterson refused to let the officers into the home. * Jan. 12 - Jan. 23: Adult Protective Services attempted to check on Walter Peterson on three different occasions during this time frame. * Jan. 23: DEA agents raid Peterson's two clinics and a home connected to him. Former patients say Peterson ran a pill mill. * Jan. 23: Multiple agencies execute a warrant to search Walter Peterson's home. His father is found in poor condition and is taken to a hospital. Peterson's wife, 88-year-old Sheila Peterson, is arrested and charged with willful abuse or neglect of an elder. A warrant is issued for Peterson on the same charge. * Jan. 27: The Tennessee Board of Nursing suspends Geoffery Peterson's nursing license in an emergency order. * March 2: Peterson turns himself in to the Sequatchie County sheriff with his attorney.

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