POLK COUNTY, Fla. – A Florida nurse is accused of poisoning two of her neighbor’s cats and a pregnant canine.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office mentioned on Thursday that Tamesha Knighten, 51, was arrested and faces a number of counts of felony animal cruelty.
Deputies mentioned the 2 cats, Luna and Pancake, had been discovered choking, foaming on the mouth and “in obvious significant pain.” The cats died inside hours of one another. Then, 4 hours later, a pregnant Chihuahua, Daisy, was discovered useless by her homeowners, in accordance with sheriff’s officers.
Knighten’s neighbors instructed deputies she threatened to poison their pets if the animals got here into her yard.
“On the day that the pets died, they noticed Knighten pacing in her yard along the shared fence line. She had also yelled at the victims’ children that day, who were outside playing ball,” the sheriff’s workplace mentioned in a launch.
The neighbors mentioned they seen the cat “acting strangely” within the yard and Knighten, who was additionally outdoors, mentioned the cat should be choking on a frog, in accordance with sheriff’s officers.
Deputies discovered a white Styrofoam bowl close to Knighten’s air con unit that had “a white meaty substance mixed with a dark colored material.” Knighten denied having these sorts of bowls till deputies discovered a pack of them in her pantry, a launch exhibits.
The sheriff’s workplace mentioned deputies reviewed video from Knighten’s yard and noticed her holding the bowl whereas sporting a blue glove. When requested why she was sporting the glove, she mentioned it was to choose up papers within the yard, which deputies didn’t discover proof from, the discharge mentioned.
“They told her the bowl looked like it contained tuna, to which she replied, ‘It wasn’t tuna, it was chicken.’ When asked what the chicken had on it, she called it her ‘special seasoning’ and said she put the bowl of food outside to ‘feed animals in the area,’” the sheriff’s workplace mentioned.
Lab outcomes confirmed the pets consumed Phorate, a pesticide present in pesticides, in accordance with officers, which might have prompted the animals to endure.
“This suspect, despite all evidence to the contrary, repeatedly denied killing her neighbor’s pets, even telling our detectives that she’s a nurse and had too much to lose. Well guess what? These people lost their beloved pets in a most horrific way, and she lost her freedom by going to jail,” Sheriff Grady Judd mentioned within the launch.
In addition to animal cruelty, Knighten faces one depend of depositing poison in a public space.
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