
Corrected 9 a.m. Monday to clarify Cook no longer works for the Kansas Highway Patrol.
MOUNT VERNON, Mo. (AP) — A former southwest Missouri sheriff's deputy who also once worked as a Kansas State Trooper faces animal abuse charges after his girlfriend's dog died of injuries that included fractured ribs and a liver laceration.
The preliminary hearing for 24-year-old Zachary Cook, of Mount Vernon, is scheduled for April 12. He is free on bond after pleading not guilty last month to three counts each animal abuse and burglary.
Lawrence County Sheriff Brad Delay said Cook resigned from the sheriff’s office after learning about the charges, the Springfield News-Leader reports.
According to court documents, Cook’s girlfriend reviewed footage from her doorbell camera after finding the dog dead upon returning home from work on the morning of Jan. 14. The footage showed that Cook had entered her apartment while she was gone, even though he didn't have permission to come and go as he pleased. The surveillance system also captured high-pitched whining and crying noises.
The woman took her dog’s body for a necropsy examination, which revealed signs of trauma, court documents say.
The documents say the woman previously had noticed the animal was acting scared around Cook.
Cook’s attorney, Dakota Paris, said in a statement that “the truth will come out through the judicial process.”