By Nathan Hardin
nhardin@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — A Georgia couple accused of starving nearly 40 horses was arrested in Salisbury after deputies said they wrote worthless checks to rent a Rowan County home.
According to a Rowan County Sheriff’s Office report, Cecil and Kathleen Walker, of 903 Perrien St., Nashville, Ga., was charged with misdemeanor worthless check, felony worthless check and felony obtaining property by false pretense Friday morning.
Deputies said the couple wrote two fraudulent checks totaling nearly $3,500 to rent a home on Long Branch Road.
No one appeared to be at the home on Monday. The 36-acre property was listed for sale.
Cecil, 61, and his wife, 58, were arrested on animal cruelty charges in Georgia in November.
In December, the Walkers were sentenced to eight months probation, ordered to pay court fees and forfeit their 41 horses.
Capt. Steven Jones of the Thomas County Sheriff’s Office said the agency worked with private organizations to find families for some of the horses and medical attention to those that needed it.
Thomas County deputies began investigating the couple on Oct. 12, according to records obtained by the Post, after a complaint about animal cruelty at the Walkers’ 217 Incognito Lane residence in Georgia.
An incident report from Georgia said the horses “did not appear to be regularly fed” and were kept on about three acres of property.