Two Ohio women are facing criminal charges after allegedly trespassing onto private property to check on horses they suspected were being maltreated.

Scioto County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Todd Miller said that on Aug. 24, Betty Davison and Tonia Jenkins visited the property where maltreated horses were rumored to reside. The women approached the house on the property and knocked on the door in an attempt to talk with the horses’ owner; however, a teenager alone in the house at the time was afraid to open the door to them, Miller said. The women then allegedly entered a barn on the property and began photographing the horses inside, Miller said. Afterward, the pair contacted the Scioto Sheriff’s Department to investigate the horses’ condition.

The investigation revealed that two of the three horses residing on the property were in good condition with appropriate access to food and water, Miller relayed. A veterinarian determined that a 16-year-old horse also residing on the property had a cardiac condition, but was not being maltreated. As a result, authorities filed no animal cruelty charges against the horses’ owner.

However, on Oct. 1 Davison and Jenkins were charged with criminal trespass. Miller said the criminal charges against the women stem from their allegedly entering the barn and photographing the horses without the owner’s permission. If convicted each of the women could face multiple penalties including fines and jail time, he said. The case remains pending