An investigation conducted by the Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Bureau identified James Cody Laurine, 31 of New Bern, N.C. as the perpetrator.
A press release from the Craven County Sheriff’s Office stated that Laurine brought a dog to receive medical care and stated the injuries occurred during an alleged training session the day before. A veterinarian evaluated the dog who was bleeding from the mouth and found she had multiple injuries that were inconsistent with what was reported happened. The dog required surgery as a result of the injuries.
Laurine has a long history and experience working with animals, both with Law Enforcement and with Private Organizations.
Laurine was previously employed as a Law Enforcement Officer by both the Craven County Sheriff’s Office and the Bridgeton Police Department. According to the NC Secretary of State website, he is currently the owner of Reservoir Dogs Canine Solutions LLC, a company that he runs out of his residence on Little Creek Circle in New Bern.
Laurine also has performed dog training work for NC K9 LLC a company based out of Four Oaks, NC. New Bern Live contacted NC K9 LLC owner Jim Obrien, who stated that Laurine was not an employee but did perform Independent Contract work for them at his New Bern facility when they had an overflow of work. Jim Obrien stated that NC K9 LLC does not condone the conduct Laurine is alleged to have committed and that they terminated all relationships with him once they learned of the allegations.
Laurine was also associated with the Throw Away Dogs Project. In December of 2023, that organization announced he was joining their nonprofit as a member of their K9 Law and Order Decoy Team. In that same announcement, they stated that Laurine attended the Throw Away Dog Project Seminar in 2021 and was paired with his first K9 Partner, Karma. The Throw Away Dogs Project has supported and worked with the Craven County Sheriff’s Office for numerous years, in 2024, they donated K9 Elliot and K9 Tia to the department. New Bern Live reached out to the Throw Away Dogs Project via email but did not receive a statement by press time. but will update this article if one is received later.
According to information Laurine posted on Nextdoor under the name NC K9 New Bern he is the owner of NC K9 New Bern and stated that “I train pet and police dogs in Eastern NC. I specialize in Obedience and Behavioral Modifications (timid or aggressive dogs) training, and will assist in other areas such as detection, tracking, and apprehension training. I train any breed of any size. I offer Board and Trains, Private Lessons, and Group Classes.”
For the past several years, Laurine has been known to make highly critical posts related to the performance of the Craven County Sheriff’s Office on his now-deleted Social Media pages.
New Bern Live reached out to Laurine for comment via email, but has not received a response as of press time, but will update this story if he provides a statement at a later date/time.