LUDLOW FALLS — Six misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty against the owner of Annie the Highway Cow were dismissed in Miami County Municipal Court Monday, online records show.
Cory Morris, 44, of Dayton, was charged in May 2020 after deputies served a search warrant at his property on South Rangeline Road.
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“During the May 18 search warrant deputies found the condition of the residence to be in complete disrepair, animal carcasses decomposing both inside and outside of the residence, dirt, filth, and conditions making the residence unfit for habitation,” Sheriff Dave Duchak said last year.
Morris said the case was “spurred on by an unfounded complaint.”
The charges were dismissed as part of a plea deal reached between Morris and the municipal prosecutor’s office.
“They had offered a plea deal to Mr. Morris in which if he would completely clean his property and maintain his animals they would offer a plea reduction,” Duchak said. “Deputies did inspect the property several weeks ago and found it to be completely cleaned up and night and day difference from last year.”
Morris runs the Facebook page Annie the Highway Cow, which went viral after he was seen driving the cow in the backseat of a pickup truck on I-75 through Tipp City back in 2018.
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“They were rejected by their mother at birth and required constant care for the first few weeks of life. From day one, she’s loved to go for rides in the truck and enjoy the wind in her hair,” Morris said in 2018.
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