Botetourt County officers seized a horse from Jack Cassell's Fincastle farm Sunday, according to a search warrant.

According to a court affidavit, two horses the county had previously seized from Cassell were released after Cassell showed a bill of sale for them. Those two horses, according to the affidavit, later ended up again in Cassell's care.

No charges have been filed and the case is still under investigation, according to Botetourt County Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Jill Deegan.

Cassell, 79, faced trial on 33 animal cruelty charges for allegedly allowing the horses in his herd to starve in January. He pleaded guilty to two counts of depriving an animal of food and water.

On Feb. 1, six of his horses were seized for blocking U.S. 220. He was convicted of five misdemeanor counts of allowing an animal to stray or trespass and fined $250. On Feb. 22, three more horses were seized again after a driver called to say they were in the road. Cassell pleaded no contest to three more charges of letting an animal stray or trespass and was fined $200 for each conviction. The fines were suspended on the condition that Cassell have electric fencing up by March 24.

The horses seized for blocking U.S. 220, according to the affidavit, were only to be released if they were sold. On Feb. 5, Cassell, according to the warrant, showed animal control officer W.K. Crowder a bill of sale for $1,600 for two horses named Jasper and Josh.

But while Cassell claimed to sell the animals, the affidavit reported that Jasper was one of the horses blocking U.S. 220 in the Feb. 22 incident. Later, according to the affidavit, Crowder saw Josh on Cassell's property.

The seized horse had "two white rear socks and a blaze on the face."

Attorney Rob Hagan, who's representing Cassell, said he felt the search warrant is excessive. "He's being subjected to disproportionate financial coercion," he said.

Cassell now has 14 horses, Hagan said. Under a previous plea agreement, Cassell is required to reduce his herd to six horses by September.