RALEIGH, NC – Two former Butterball workers were convicted on animal-cruelty charges stemming from a hidden-camera video shot at a Butterball turkey farm in Hoke County, NC.

Terry Johnson and Billy McBride were found guilty of animal cruelty after a bench trial before Judge John Horne Jr. Johnson and McBride were among six workers who were arrested on animal-abuse charges in February 2012.

Dr. Sara Mason, a veterinarian at the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, pled guilty to obstructing justice and obstructing a police officer. She admitted tipping off a veterinarian at the facility that undercover video had been taken. She received a suspended jail sentence in exchange for unsupervised probation.

Brian Douglas and Ruben Mendoza also were convicted of criminal cruelty to animals based on the same undercover video taken by Mercy For Animals, an animal rights group. MFA said Douglas's conviction marks the first-ever felony conviction for cruelty to "factory farmed" poultry in US history.