News
Published
Jan. 7, 2024, 3:54 p.m. ET
A Florida nurse was arrested for allegedly poisoning her neighbor’s pets with pesticide — after threatening to kill the animals in the event that they continued to enter her yard.
Tamesha Knighten was arrested Wednesday on three counts of animal cruelty and one depend of depositing poison in public after detectives with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office stated she poisoned two pet cats and a pregnant Chihuahua on Aug. 16, 2023.
The 51-year-old licensed practical nurse additionally killed eight puppies within the canine’s womb, authorities stated.
“We saw that one of them was in horrific distress, others had already died,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd stated throughout a press convention, in response to WFLA.
“The one that was in horrific distress died immediately,” he added.
Officials started investigating after the 2 cats, Luna and Pancake, died inside hours of one another. Both felines have been reportedly choking, foaming on the mouth, and in critical ache, authorities stated.
Luna and Pancake’s homeowners then realized they might not discover their pregnant 4-year-old canine, Daisy, and commenced looking for her. But by the point that they had discovered her, she had already died.
The deceased animals’ homeowners informed detectives Knighten had beforehand threatened to poison their pets in the event that they continued coming into her yard. They additionally stated they noticed Knighten pacing in her yard the day their pets died.
Knighten was caught on her home surveillance footage carrying rubber gloves and taking a bowl of hen strips blended with what she referred to as her “special seasoning” into her yard to feed the neighborhood animals, Judd stated.
Samples taken from the bowl and the lifeless pets confirmed the “special seasoning” was Phorate, a pesticide present in pesticides, officers stated.
“Do not ever poison innocent animals,” Judd stated. “Unless, of course, you want to go to jail as well.”
“We call her an ‘IJN,’” Judd stated. “An ‘in-the-jail’ nurse.”
Judd stated it took so lengthy to get an arrest within the case as a result of samples needed to be despatched to labs at three completely different universities.
“These people lost their beloved pets in a most horrific way, and she lost her freedom by going to jail,” Judd stated in a launch. “It takes a cold-hearted person to poison and kill two cats and a pregnant dog – it’s hard to imagine how a person in the medical field could do such a thing.”
Knighten, who labored for United Health Care at Wellmed in Lakeland, was charged with three counts of felony animal cruelty.
She was booked into the Polk County Jail and it’s unclear if she bonded out.
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