- Florida, USA -
Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno announced the arrest of 20-year-old JAELEN ANTHONY BARGE and 18-year-old ALLISON MARIE SWECK (both pictured).
On the evening of Wednesday, April 14, the Sheriff’s Office received a call about a puppy in distress inside a vehicle, halfway hanging out of a window, with his mouth taped shut.
Deputies responded to the parking lot of Walmart on S. Tamiami Trail in Estero and located the furbaby, a 9-week-old Great Pyrenees, in a Blue Hyundai SUV.
News-Press reports that a witness told deputies that the dog was hanging halfway out the SUV's window with snot coming from his nose and electrical tape wrapped tightly around the mouth area.
The furbaby was also leashed to a headrest inside the SUV.
The witness then explained to deputies that they removed the tape, took the puppy out of the SUV and gave him water but he had trouble drinking due to having been bound tightly.
A second witness stepped in to help and alerted Walmart security.
According to the witness, BARGE and SWECK came back to the vehicle after fifteen minutes and told witnesses to not touch their dogs.
Sheriff Marceno said there was also another dog inside the vehicle.
Deputies learned BARGE and SWECK, drove down to Florida from Tennessee.
These monsters taped and tightly wrapped a training lead around the puppy’s snout to prevent the puppy from nipping them.
Detectives from the South District Criminal Investigations Division and Animal Cruelty Task Force assumed the investigation.
It emerged that the puppies were left alone without accessible food or water.
BARGE and SWECK were booked at the Lee County Jail on one count each of aggravated animal cruelty and one count of animal cruelty.
Online records show that the pair are scheduled to be arraigned on May 17.
Sheriff Marceno said the puppy, now named Phoenix, is safe and recovering at the Lee County Domestic Animal Services.
Sheriff Marceno has always made it clear that animal cruelty is not tolerated in Lee County. He has always said: “You hurt an animal, you go to jail!”
This time however, I am a little bit perplexed as to why the other furbaby was left in the care of his/her abusers.
In this regard, there is a petition and when I signed, more than 500 signatures had already been collected.
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