Jay Fabian, managing director for the NASCAR Cup Series, has stepped back from his role after facing animal cruelty charges, as reported by Fox Sports.

Fabian is scheduled to appear in a Mecklenburg County, North Carolina court on September 27, where he’ll face two felony counts of cruelty to animals and one misdemeanor count of cruelty to animals. Essentially, the charges boil down to the fact that he wilfully neglected his own dogs.

As Bob Pockrass reports, one dog is said to have died after deprived “of all necessary sustenance in which to live” while another dog suffered “extreme dehydration and starvation” while a third was deprived of “necessary sustenance.”

Fabian joined the Cup Series in 2016 after previously working for Michael Waltrip Racing. He became managing director in 2019.

NASCAR issued a statement that read, “NASCAR takes the situation seriously and will continue to gather information as it becomes available. Jay Fabian will step back from his role until this matter is resolved. NASCAR will have no further comment.”

The role will be filled by several different people from NASCAR’s competition department in the interim.