JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (WFLA) — What started as a drug investigation in Florida earlier this year ended with a man facing more than a dozen animal abuse charges.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said deputies serving a search warrant at the suspect’s home found several neglected dogs that were being used for dog fighting and a 9-foot alligator that they believe was being fed other animals on the property.
The investigation began in March after detectives received a tip that a house on the northwest side of Jacksonville was being used to distribute illegal drugs. Authorities said they found cocaine, oxycodone and marijuana at the home, as well as several firearms.
The resident and suspect in the investigation, 49-year-old Marquis Williams, was arrested on multiple felony drug and weapons charges, according to the sheriff’s office.
However, while at the home, deputies also noticed what they described as “dog fighting equipment.” Their findings allegedly included dog-fighting trophies and books on the subject.
Animal control officers continued thoroughly searching the property and discovered multiple dogs in skyboxes and some that were chained up. Officials said none of the dogs had access to water and nearly all of them were covered in feces and fleas.
Some of the dogs also appeared to have open wounds or injuries that were in the process of healing, according to investigators. Other animals, including young raccoons and turtles, were found in similar conditions.
What was even more “shocking,” deputies said, was a 9-foot alligator that was being kept in a small, fenced area. According to detectives, bones scattered on the ground inside the enclosure indicated the alligator’s only food source was other animals on the property. There was also no water in the cage.
The sheriff’s office said a nuisance alligator wrangler with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission came and safely removed the alligator from the property.
In addition to the drug charges, Williams now faces more than a dozen animal abuse charges, including illegally possessing an alligator and promoting dog fighting. He was booked into the Duval County jail for “putting lives, human and animal, at risk,” the sheriff’s office said.