Reply #43: Bond set at $100,000 for farm worker accused of animal cruelty

[mod mom]

MARYSVILLE, Ohio -- The man accused of brutally beating cows and calves at a Union County dairy farm says he is a wounded Army veteran of the war in Iraq who is about to take his exam to become an Ohio police officer.

Billy Joe Gregg, 25, sat still and listened this morning as Marysville Municipal Court Judge Michael Grigsby detailed the 12 charges of animal cruelty that were filed against Gregg yesterday. Gregg said he has no job and no money, and asked for a court-appointed attorney.

Gregg was the star of a video released late Tuesday by Mercy For Animals, a Chicago-based, animal-rights group that promotes a vegan lifestyle. Mercy sent an undercover employee into Conklin Dairy Farms on Rt. 42 near Plain City and recorded what it says is about 20 hours of tape that shows Conklin employees -- mainly Gregg -- beating cows with crowbars, sticking them with pitchforks, breaking their tails and throwing calves to the ground and stomping their heads.

Only about four minutes of the tape has been shown publicly.

-snip

On the tape provided by Mercy For Animals, Gregg can he seen bringing guns into the farm's milkhouse, firing them on the property and talking about stealing M-16s from the U.S. Army while he was stationed in Iraq.

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/05/27/gregg-court-appearance.html?sid=101