The Taylor County Sheriff’s Office is being swamped with calls about a  puppy mill in the county. Authorities says an “Outfit in New Jersey has dug up a photo from several years ago purporting to show a puppy mill in Taylor County and is urging people from across the nation to call and complain.” To counter the rumor mill (again), the Sheriff’s office has issued the following statement:

“The Taylor County Sheriff’s Office has investigated the matter and has not found any evidence of violations of Iowa Code Chapter 717B, or any other Iowa Statute. The Sheriff’s Office has received multiple telephone calls about the matter based upon Facebook postings. Facebook postings are not evidence upon which we can base a criminal prosecution. If you posses evidence of a current violation of this statute, you need to provide this and we will review. However, evidence does not include dated photographs posted on someone’s Facebook page. We would need evidence of recent acts or omissions which violate the statute and implicate specific persons in the violations. If you cannot provide us with evidence of a crime, then you cannot expect us to be able to prosecute someone for a crime.”