GREEN CREEK– The owners of Carolina Feedlots, a Southeastern Cattle Company business in Green Creek, were arrested this week on charges of obtaining property on false pretenses, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.

Justin Scott White, 26, and Crystal Amanda Roddy, 27, were each charged with felony obtaining property under false pretenses, according to sheriff reports. 

White was arrested on Jan. 9 and Roddy was arrested on Jan. 10, according to sheriff reports.

Polk County Sheriff Donald Hill said the sheriff’s office began an investigation after officers received a complaint from a person in Virginia that she had purchased and paid for a horse and didn’t receive it.

Late last year, charges were taken out on White by Polk County Animal Control Officer Michael Herman for selling animals without a dealer’s license, according to the sheriff’s office. The N.C. Department of Agriculture suspended White’s dealer’s license late last year. The charge on White in 2016 was a Class III misdemeanor, with those charges continued in Polk County District Court until Feb. 22. 

White and Roddy’s charges of obtaining property under false pretenses were scheduled for district court on Wednesday, Jan. 11.

Both were released from jail this week under $10,000 bonds each.

The business, located in Green Creek, was placed under suspension in July last year after White was issued a quarantine notice by the N.C. Department of Agriculture. White also received three $2,500 penalties from the department of agriculture that totaled $7,500 in fines.

The Southeastern Cattle Company was operating under White’s Carolina Feedlots Facebook page, where he purchased animals, mainly horses that were going to slaughter, and sold them through bidding. White purchases horses that would otherwise go to a processing plant in Mexico and attempts to sell them.

Hill has said in the past he has been trying for over a year to press charges against White and said he’s worked with several agencies, including the department of agriculture, the department of justice, the state commerce department and the attorney general’s office.

As of Wednesday, Jan. 11, a Facebook page was still active for Carolina Feedlots with horses for sale. The page states, “Carolina Feedlots offers slaughter bound horses a second chance at a forever home. CF was started in hopes of an alternate solution for the horses & homes!”

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office says there are still charges pending in South Carolina against White.

The Laurens County, S.C. Sheriff’s Office charged White with five counts of ill treatment of animals before he relocated to Polk County, alleging that four horses and a donkey under White’s care were starved of food and water with one of the horses dying before it could be removed to an animal rescue.