Geoffrey Peterson was charged with animal cruelty on December 19, after Sequatchie County law enforcement found more than 60 animals living in filthy conditions in his home. Geoffrey Deane Peterson, the man accused of abusing his elderly father, hoarding more than 60 animals in squalid conditions and using his license as a nurse practitioner to prescribe copious amounts of narcotics, turned himself in to the Sequatchie County Sheriff’s office around 2 p.m. this afternoon, Sheriff Ronnie Hitchcock said.
The case stems from Peterson’s arrest Dec. 19 on four counts of aggravated animal cruelty, one count of animal cruelty and felony possession of morphine after authorities raided his feces-filled home on Austin Road in Dunlap.
Peterson, a licensed advanced practice nurse in Tennessee, ran a couple of medical practices in Hamilton County that were raided in January by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Authorities also searched a Hixson home connected to Peterson where they found the man’s 88-year-old father, Walter, in poor condition, according to an emergency order of summary suspension from the Tennessee Board of Nursing.
Stay with the Times Free Press for updates on this developing story.