On July 24, the State of West Virginia charged 23-year-old Andrew Norris Hauler of Carroll County with four counts of misdemeanor animal cruetly and four counts of misdemeanor “abandoning [horses] to die.”
The underlying allegations are that he took four Bureau of Land Management mustangs to Jefferson County, West Virginia, and abandonded them there.
Hauler posted a $10,000 bond on Tuesday, August 4.
His pre-trial hearing is scheduled for October 8.
Mr. Hauler has experience with Maryland criminal courts. In 2024, the State charged him with one criminal charge of operating a business without a license. That case went to trial in October 2025. He was ordered to pay $18,401.25 in restitution and he was placed on supervised probation.
The court reopened the case in March 2026 and charged Hauler with violating his probation. There was to have been a probation report submitted on Tuesday, August 4th, the same day that he posted his bond in the West Virginia animal cruelty case. On August 8th, his probation officer in the Maryland restitution case filed a supplemental probation report.
