Two women have been arrested on animal cruelty charges after videos from a Lena training academy went viral on social media, according to the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Tina Frey, 52, and Victoria Brimer, 21, were booked into Rapides Parish Detention Center No. 1 on Thursday, one week after the Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation after receiving one complaint from a dog owner.
The viral videos circulating were shot at Cypress Arrow K9 Academy.
Frey and Brimer, who are mother and daughter, were booked on two counts of aggravated cruelty to animals, authorities said.
They turned themselves in at the Rapides Parish Courthouse with their attorney, Bradley Drell. Both posted bonds of $10,000 and were released.
Drell had released a statement on Frey’s behalf two days before the arrests, saying the Sheriff’s Office had gone overboard because of “the intense public pressure” after videos taken by a fired employee were placed online.
“Revenge for her firing seems to be this former employee’s primary motivation in releasing these videos and in contacting clients of Cypress Arrow,” reads the statement.
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Cypress Arrow closed Aug. 13, and the five remaining dogs either were picked up by owners or turned over to a veterinarian, it reads.
Drell also released video that showed Frey and the owner of a dog in the viral video talking about the training while the dog, Fennix, walks around freely.
Frey is shown in the viral video hitting Fennix with a quirt, a riding crop. In the video released by Drell, the owner and Frey talk about the training while holding the quirt.
“While I understand that many people feel, and some quite strongly, that the use of the quirt is not what they would do to correct a dog, the use of the quirt is not inhumane under the law,” reads Drell’s statement. “Fenixx was in no way injured, as is shown in the video.”
As days passed with no arrests, public outrage grew. Sheriff Mark Wood acknowledged how high profile the case had become in an Aug. 16 Facebook post.
In a news release Thursday announcing the arrests, Wood thanked the department’s Animal Control Division and detectives for “staying the course, following the evidence where it leads and not bending to pressure of a quick arrest.”
The release calls the investigation “very active” and said more arrests are possible.
This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Cypress Arrow owner, daughter arrested on animal cruelty charges