The Humane Society of the United States, and volunteers, process more than 50 animals that were discovered in deplorable conditions following a served warrant today in the Ewtonville community, just north of Dunlap. BE ON THE LOOKOUT
Authorities are seeking Geoffrey Peterson on multiple charges ranging from animal cruelty to willful neglect of the elderly. Peterson is described as a 55-year-old, 5-foot 6-inch white man, weighing about 150 pounds with light brown hair and hazel eyes. Police say he could be armed and dangerous. Anyone with information on Peterson’s whereabouts should call the Sequatchie County Sheriff’s Office at 423-949-7750, the Chattanooga Police Department at 423-698-2525 or the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office at 423-209-8940.
Geoffrey Peterson, accused of dog hoarding and elder abuse, did not show up for his hearing Friday in Sequatchie County Circuit Court.
The 55-year-old man remains at-large, sought on warrants out of Sequatchie and Hamilton counties.
Sheriff Ronnie Hitchcock was not surprised that Peterson didn’t make his court date. The man was released in December on a $10,000 bond that since has been revoked.
“He hasn’t showed up for any of his court appearances so far,” Hitchcock said Friday. The sheriff said Peterson will now face a new charge for failure to appear in court.
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. The board suspended Peterson’s license — a move that Peterson’s attorney says he voluntarily agreed to — in an order listing 17 reasons why the man’s actions present an “extreme and untenable danger to his patients and the public of Tennessee.”
The order contains details about what authorities found as the investigation unfolded.
In a kitchen freezer at the home in Dunlap, investigators found a dead puppy wrapped in a towel with a bow, the carcasses of an opossum and two more dead adult dogs placed next to human food.
Authorities also found prefilled syringes and vials of morphine, steroids, a marijuana pipe and shopping bags full of used needles. Emaciated dogs were kept in feces-filled exam rooms at one of the medical practices Peterson was operating in Hixson.
Geoffrey Peterson who is charged with animal cruelty in Sequatchie County.According to the order, Peterson repeatedly screamed and cursed at investigators from the Department of Health, Chattanooga police and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office when they attempted to check on Walter Peterson’s welfare.
Neither of Peterson’s attorneys — Nashville-based Dan Warlick who is representing him in the medical license case, and Chattanooga criminal attorney Ben McGowan — would say whether they have heard from their client recently because of attorney-client privilege.
Warlick stressed that Peterson’s criminal charges in Hamilton County of elder abuse have no “direct relationship to him practicing as a nurse practitioner, but until they’re cleared up he has agreed not to practice.” Peterson’s 89-year-old mother, Sheila Peterson, also was charged with willful neglect, abuse or exploitation of an adult.
Meanwhile, a federal investigation is paralleling the local probes, according to DEA officials.
Brad Byerly, the resident agent-in-charge of the DEA’s Chattanooga office, said Friday that he could not talk about efforts to locate Peterson but did confirm that Peterson “is being investigated federally.”
Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or twitter.com/BenBenton or www.facebook.com/ben.benton1 or 423-757-6569.