Ex-Columbus restaurant co-owner pleads guilty to criminal charges in Harris County
A former co-owner and chef of a popular Columbus restaurant pled guilty to charges he faced in Harris County, according to Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Don Kelly.
Dennis Cleveland Thompson, former co-owner and chef of The Animal Farm, pleaded guilty Oct. 20 to two counts of unlawful surveillance in Harris County, Kelly told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email.
Thompson is scheduled for sentencing on Dec. 16, according to Kelly.
“Because the Muscogee case is pending, I can’t discuss the facts of the case,” Kelly said.
Authorities said in 2023 Thompson faced charges in Harris County for allegedly recording a teenage girl as she visited his parents’ home there.
Muscogee County case
Thompson faces a total of 36 charges in Muscogee County for videos filmed at the 105 12th St. restaurant and a house he was living in at the time.
He surrendered to police in September 2022.
Thompson faces 30 counts of unlawful surveillance for allegedly recording people in restrooms and six counts of child sexual exploitation for allegedly possessing videos of underage victims.
Kelly said Thompson has pleaded not guilty in the Muscogee County case.
The case involves 20 victims, six being minors ages 5-17 at the time.
The indictment says most of the videos were filmed at The Animal Farm, except three involving a teenage girl videotaped at a house on Sue Mack Drive, where Thompson lived at the time.
The Columbus recordings date from July 23 to Sept. 12, 2022.
The investigation began on Sept. 1, 2022, after another co-owner, Hudson Terrell, said he found videos from the restrooms on a business computer.
Terrell looked for the devices and found them hidden in vents, he said.
“We had turned it over to police within 30 minutes of finding it,” Terrell told the Ledger-Enquirer at the time.
Kelly said a status conference about the charges Thompson faces in Muscogee County is scheduled for Dec. 17.
The Ledger-Enquirer didn’t reach Thompson’s lawyer, William Kendrick, for comment by the time of publication.
This story was originally published October 27, 2025 at 1:19 PM.
CORRECTION: Dennis Cleveland Thompson was misidentified on one reference in a previous version of this story.