3 Bellevue PetSmart Managers Booked For Animal Cruelty

BELLEVUE, TN -- Three managers of the Bellevue PetSmart raided in March will go before a Nashville judge in June on animal cruelty charges.

Store leader Greg Gordon, 31, assistant store leader Kristopher Stengel, 39, and customer engagement leader Tonya Smith, 39, were booked into the Davidson County Jail Monday and given a June 26 court date on animal cruelty charges.

The trio was cited April 13, two weeks after the store was raided by Metro Animal Care and Control officials, Metro Police and investigators from the district-attorney's office as part of an investigation prompted by employee tips and a video produced by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

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MACC seized six animals - hamsters, mice and guinea pigs - and requested veterinary records and animal-care policies from the Sawyer Brown Road store during the March 29 raid.

Though its video allegedly showed animals from PetSmart nationwide, PETA said it provided authorities with photos and video of neglected animals specifically at the Bellevue location and praised Nashville authorities for quick action.

A PetSmart employee passed information to PETA, saying that a guinea pig contracted multiple illnesses, including infections that spread to its heart and brain. A mouse died at the store a month after contracting what was apparently a respiratory infection and eye irritation. PETA also said more than 200 dead fish were collected from tanks in a single day at the Bellevue store.

PETA said managers at the Bellevue store were "observed repeatedly refusing to provide sick, injured and dying animals with veterinary care in order to 'keep costs down' so they would receive bonuses." The organization said a supervisor ordered staff not to tell customers that PetSmart buys animals from a Georgia company put on probation by that state's agriculture department following a PETA investigation in 2010.

The animals seized during the raid are reportedly "doing better."

"These charges are an important first step toward achieving some measure of justice for the sick, neglected animals who were left to suffer and die without care. Authorities did the right thing here, and PETA encourages kind consumers to do their part as well by not shopping at PetSmart until it stops selling live beings and sells only supplies," PETA said in a statement.

PetSmart Photo by J.R. Lind, Patch staff; mug shots via Metro Nashville Police