MACON COUNTY, AL (WTVM) - Investigators in Alabama are working what they call a case involving a disturbing scam aimed at animal lovers.
Victims of this scam say they thought they were giving horses they could no longer care for to a good home, but soon found out that was not the case.
Macon County Sheriff Andre Brunson says third-year Tuskegee University veterinarian student, Fallon Blackwood, told people across the southeast that she could take care of their horses at her property. However, caring was the opposite of what she was doing.
"She was getting the horses and telling the owners they were going to nice pasture land and would happily live their days out. What she was doing was taking the horses to slaughter," says Brunson.
A Troup County report filed from a victim claimed they gave their horse valued at $1,500 to Blackwood back in November.
The victim said Blackwood claimed the horse would be taken in as a companion to a horse she already owned.
Soon after, there was no sign of the horse and the victim says they believe their horse was slaughtered after a Facebook group revealed more people were in the same boat.
"From what I understand, there are many more over the south," says Brunson.
"Slaughtered to potentially be made into dog food is what is believed to have happened to some of the horses that landed in Blackwood's possession," Brunson says.
Investigators said state authorities picked her up on campus and booked her into the Macon County Jail this week after police in North Carolina issued a felony warrant for her arrest on a horse there.
News Leader 9 reached out to Tuskegee University for comment and haven't heard back yet.
Blackwood remains in the Macon County Jail facing felony charges of obtaining property under false pretense.
"It's just a shame something like this would happen and somebody would be this cruel, if this is what happened," says Brunson.
Blackwood is scheduled for a court hearing in Macon County Friday morning before she will be extradited to North Carolina.
Tuskegee University released the following statement regarding the case: