Millard Lucien Tierce
Six months to the day after authorities raided the Camp Bowie Animal Clinic in west Fort Worth and charged its owner with animal cruelty, a Tarrant County grand jury has indicted 71-year-old veterinarian Millard Lucian “Lou” Tierce.
It’s a three-count indictment, with animal cruelty among the charges — specifically, says the indictment, Tierce failed to “provide appropriate veterinary care.” His clinic was raided on April 29 after a woman told authorities he was keeping her dog alive for blood transfusions long after she had been told he’d euthanized her pet. Tierce called her allegations “a bunch of hooey.”
Not to the grand jury, which also charged Tierce with one count of theft between $1,500 and $20,000 and another count of “misapplication of fiduciary property.”
Those two charges are state jail felonies punishable by six months to two years in a state jail facility. The animal-cruelty charge is a Class A misdemeanor for which he could receive up to a year in jail.
The Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office says it will not comment on the pending case.
Tierce is free on $10,000 bond while awaiting trial. No court date has been set.
Just last week the State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners suspended Tierce’s license for five years, extending an earlier suspension following an investigation into allegations that this was not a one-off incident.
In May Jamie and Marian Harris sued the vet for $1 million, claiming that Tierce had told them their 4-year-old Leonberger named Sid needed to be put to sleep because of a congenital spinal defect. But a former employee at the clinic, Mary Brewer, told the couple that their dog was still alive and that the doctor was harvesting his blood. Investigators raided the clinic and found not only Sid, but other animals living in what the Star-Telegram referred to as “deplorable and unsanitary conditions.”