Ohio dairy farmworker pleads not guilty to animal-cruelty charges

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MARYSVILLE, Ohio — An Ohio dairy farm worker accused of abusing cows in an undercover video has pleaded not guilty to 12 counts of cruelty to animals.

An attorney for 25-year-old Billy Joe Gregg Jr. entered the plea Wednesday. Gregg appeared on a video conference Thursday in a separate court to pleaded not guilty to a felony gun charge.

An animal welfare group says video it recorded for an undercover investigation showed Gregg and others beating cows with crowbars and poking them with pitchforks at Conklin Dairy Farms Inc. The farm has condemned the video footage and says it fired Gregg.

Gregg remains in jail on a $100,000 bond.

A trial for the animal cruelty charges is scheduled for Aug. 16.

RELATED NEWS ABOUT ANIMAL-CRUELTY INVESTIGATIONS:
Police guard Ohio farm at heart of animal-cruelty investigation to prevent private-property protest
Egg-farm video is latest salvo in Humane Society’s campaign (April 2010 story by P.J. Huffstutter)

-- Associated Press