Farm animals left in heat without food or water
Myakka City, FL (US)Incident Date: Monday, May 21, 2007
County: Manatee
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Felipe Munoz
Case Updates: 2 update(s) available
For the second time, a Myakka City man has been charged with animal cruelty, according to a Manatee County Sheriff's Office report.
Deputies arrested Felipe Munoz, 83, of the 4800 block of Wauchula Road, Monday, after finding farm animals in 93 degree heat without food and water.
The sheriff's report said deputies also found numerous dead chickens and a dead pig in the same area with living pigs.
After arresting Munoz, deputies confiscated 10 pigs, 19 goats and six sheep from the property.
Munoz was arrested on an animal cruelty charge in 2002, the sheriff's report said.
He was free on $1,000 bond Tuesday.
Case UpdatesAn 85-year-old Myyaka City man today pleaded no contest to an animal cruelty charge in connection to the death of more than a dozen farm animals.
Felipe Munoz of Wacuchula Road will be sentenced at a later date and faces up to a year in jail for the misdemeanor charge.
Authorities in 2007 found some of his farm animals in 93-degree heat without food and water.
A Manatee County Sheirff's Office report noted that deputies also found numerous dead chickens and a dead pig in the same area with living pigs. After arresting Munoz, deputies confiscated 10 pigs, 19 goats and six sheep from the property.
Munoz was also arrested on an animal cruelty charge in 2002, according to the report. | Source: Bradenton Herald - May 5, 2009
Update posted on May 5, 2009 - 4:09PM |
The stench of a rotting pig carcass, a Manatee County sheriff's deputy said, was overwhelming as the officer stood at the gate of farmland owned by 84-year-old Felipe Munoz.
The deputy, Tim Eason, walked onto the field and said he found animals without food and water. Bigger chickens were trampling smaller ones. One chicken, trapped in a wire, was being eaten alive by others, he said.
"When we put water in the pan, the goats, the sheep, everything was just crowding around trying to drink," Eason said at a recent court hearing.
Munoz, who has long been criticized by law enforcement and animal rights activists, was arrested in late May and charged with three counts of confining animals without sufficient food or water, and leaving sick animals to die.
The charges against Munoz are the latest animal-related offenses lodged against the longtime Bradenton resident, who has avoided harsh sanctions in earlier cases. Munoz violated probation last year but did not get a jail sentence.
Prosecutors this time are mounting an aggressive attack on Munoz and want to tell jurors all about his crimes involving animals. Highlighting Munoz's history, the state says, would show that the latest charges are not accidental.
Munoz could not be reached for comment Thursday, and his attorney, Michael J. Brannigan, was not in his office Thursday afternoon. Munoz has pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges.
Since 1999, Munoz has been targeted in animal cruelty investigations in civil and in criminal court. In earlier cases Munoz has said, among other things, that he had recently run out of food. In one case, he said the animals did not belong to him. He has denied neglecting and abusing animals.
Prosecutors say Munoz was permanently banned from owning animals -- except for two roosters and seven hens -- following a judge's order in 2003 in a civil case brought by the Humane Society of Manatee County.
The state has asked Munoz to address why he should not be charged with contempt for allegedly violating that order. Munoz has not filed a response.
In the latest case, the state must prove that Munoz willfully and knowingly confined animals without sufficient food or water.
Judges rarely allow prosecutors to tell jurors about a person's older crimes. But sometimes the value of past cases in showing intent, prosecutors say, outweighs the negative impact.
"The more frequently that an act is performed," Assistant State Attorney Sandy Phillips wrote in a court brief in the Munoz case, "the less likely that it is innocently done."
The latest charges stem from an investigation at property Munoz owns in the 4800 block of Wauchula Road. Deputies said they got a tip from a neighbor about dead animals on the farm.
"You could smell the decomposition," Eason, the deputy, said in court. "The first thing I said ... was deja vu -- we're doing it all over again."
Brannigan, the defense attorney, said deputies did not have a search warrant when they walked onto the field near Munoz's house.
Authorities had no clear indication that any animals were in danger, the attorney said in court. The deputies had more than enough time to pitch the case to a judge and get a search warrant signed, he said.
"The case law is clear that in a situation like this they have an obligation to get a warrant," Brannigan said in court. "I think that any time law enforcement goes onto someone's property without a warrant, without exigent circumstances, and conducts any kind of search, it should be viewed with the highest suspicion."
Munoz, prosecutors say, did not have an expectation of privacy in the field hundreds of yards from his home. Eason said he could see into the field from a wire fence.
In an order published this week, County Judge George K. Brown Jr. said the deputies had a clear view of Munoz's field and also acted with an immediate urgency to aid sick animals.
Brown called the conditions on Munoz's property appalling.
"Any reasonable person would have concluded the animals were in distress and needed immediate attention," Brown said.
Authorities seized more than a dozen pigs, 19 goats and six sheep. Munoz, his attorney said, voluntarily surrendered the animals to the Sheriff's Office rather than fight to keep them. | Source: Herald-Tribune - Oct 12, 2007
Update posted on Oct 13, 2007 - 9:00PM |
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