South Carolina authorities have dismissed charges against a man who they said was responsible for killing more than 300,000 chickens being raised by the company that earlier terminated his contract.
The Item of Sumter reports (
) a judge in Clarendon County Tuesday said there wasn’t enough evidence to move forward with the case against James Laverne Lowery.
Lowery was arrested earlier this year on charges of burglary and property damage. Authorities had been seeking a person they said was responsible for killing more than 300,000 chickens by altering the temperatures inside more than a dozen growing buildings.
Authorities said the targeted farmers were raising birds for Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., a company for which Lowery had raised chickens before a contract was terminated.
