WETUMPKA − Two Wetumpka women have filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging city officials, including the mayor, singled them out for arrest for caring for feral cats.
Beverly Roberts, 86, and Mary Alston, 61, both of Wetumpka, became known nationally and internationally as “the cat ladies” following their arrests in June 2022 after feeding, trapping and then paying for the neutering of feral cats in the city. The women paid for the care of the cats out of their own pockets. The following December they were convicted of misdemeanor charges in Wetumpka Municipal Court.
The women have now filed suit in the Middle District of Alabama, Northern Division, naming Mayor Jerry Willis, Police Chief Greg Benton, Assistant Police Chief Ed Reeves and Wetumpka police officers Kameron Ricks, Jason Crumpton and Brenden Foster as defendants.
Justin Edwards, Wetumpka city attorney, did not return an email seeking comment for this story.
The suit alleges that Willis directed their arrests and that Benton and Reeves acted on the mayor’s orders. The women had angered city officials for “being vocal” about the care of animals in the city and appearing at several city council meetings to complain that the city was not enforcing anti-animal cruelty ordinances on the books, specifically the law banning the chaining or tethering of dogs, the lawsuit states.