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Becky Cooper responded, he said. Cooper hadn’t seen the miniature deer before and when she asked if she could take pictures, Monty Cross said he and Robin encouraged her to do so.
In the statement, Cross said he and his wife also invited the animal control officer to come back with her dogs “to enjoy walking through the acres and acres of our wooded property.
“Over a month later, I was returning home to find Deputy Cooper and another person in the vehicle with her just leaving my private property,” Monty Cross said. “That person was later identified as Officer Matt Miller from the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries of Virginia. I stopped and we talked for several minutes without either of them expressing any concerns about anything on our property.”
Questionable
conduct?
But last Tuesday, Cross said that he and his wife were awakened at about 7 a.m. when they heard “the shouting and fists pounding on our bedroom walls.
“I looked out the bedroom window to observe approximately a dozen men, most with guns, surrounding our home,” Cross said in the statement. “We dressed and went to our front door, where Officer Matt Miller was waiting with a search warrant.”
Monty Cross said Miller showed him the warrant, but did not provide the accompanying affidavit, which includes more detailed information about what the executing officers are looking for and where they are permitted to search.
When he asked to see it, Monty Cross said Miller informed him that he did not need to provide the affidavit, just the warrant. Monty Cross also alleged that Miller informed him that the officers could “seize and take anything they wanted” in the house.
“We offered no resistance, but questioned multiple times why they were violating our rights in our home,” the statement written by Monty Cross reads. “The miniature deer were already taken and nothing was found in our home. Our entire property was searched, including our vehicles.”
Monty Cross said he was told that the zoo had illegally sold him the miniature deer and that he could only own them privately by paying $12.50 to obtain a state permit.
Monty Cross said he and Robin offered to pay the fee and to pay “any costs that were incurred by the Commonwealth to maintain our pets while the permit was being processed.” He said that’s when Miller told him that they could get other miniature deer once they had obtained the permit, but that their pets could never be returned.
At that point, Monty Cross claims that the officers present were “callous and insensitive.” They ignored the fact that Robin Cross was visibly upset and wouldn’t let her say goodbye to her pets, he alleged. To make matters worse, Monty Cross said one of the officers informed him that he’d broken a step on their back deck.
Robin Cross also said that four officers who searched the house “trashed” it by tracking mud inside from the recent rain.
After the officers completed the search, the Crosses said
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