Humane Society Director, Upcoming Chamber Chair Arrested

Updated 5 p.m.

Sheriff's office spokesman Sgt. Jonathan Rogers tells Patch the simple battery count Canty faces is the most appropriate criminal accusation, investigators believe, based on Canty's alleged actions during the incident.

The victim said that Canty pulled down her pants, but never alleged he touched her or any of her sexual organs, Rogers said.

Original Report

Well known and an active volunteer in the community, Etowah Valley Humane Society director, Bryan Canty has been accused of pulling a woman's pants down to her knees at the Cartersville animal shelter.

The woman, a Cherokee Judicial Circuit Drug Court participant at the time, was performing community service back in February when the alleged incident took place about 10:30 a.m., according to the Bartow County Sheriff's Office incident report, attached.

Canty, 50, of Fite Street in Cartersville, was arrested Tuesday on a simple battery charge in connection with the Feb. 14 incident.

Sgt. Jonathan Rogers said the arrest came nearly four months after the incident due to interviews investigators conducted with witness, The Daily Tribune News reports.

At least four people, including three employees, witnessed the incident, according to the incident report, with some reacting by laughing and others gasping in shock.

The alleged victim, 26, told deputies "she was standing in the lobby area looking at a Girl Scout cookie order form, when (Canty) approached her from behind, grabbed her pants and pulled them down below her knees," the incident report says. "At that time, as she was grabbing her pants to pull them back up, she yelled at Brian, telling him, 'I don't have any panties on Brian,' then out of embarrassment, as she was pulling her pants back up, she walked to the restroom.

"At that time (Canty) followed her into the restroom and told her, 'It's cuter than I thought,' then turned around and walked out. (The woman said Canty) did not enter all the way into the restroom, he just kept the door open while he stood in the doorway, and that it is possible that the witnesses in the lobby could have heard his comment."

In addition to heading up the nonprofit animal shelter, Canty is slated to be the 2015 chairman the Cartersville-Bartow County Chamber of Commerce's board of directors and serves on the Bartow County Planning Commission. Canty also is a reporter and co-host at WBHF-AM 1450 in Cartersville.

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