A drug investigation at a Davie trailer led police to search out what they mentioned was an “unsanitary and illegal puppy mill,” the place quite a few puppies and grownup dogs have been discovered crowded in stacked cages, mendacity or standing in their very own waste and hardly in a position to walk.
Sean Brodnax, 30, was arrested on Sept. 13 whereas Danielle Palladino, 29, was arrested Thursday. Dave Police Det. Peter Patton confirmed Friday afternoon that Palladino was arrested in relation to Brodnax’s case, however their relationship was not instantly clear.
A criticism within the civil animal cruelty case that names Brodnax and Palladino mentioned they each lived on the Davie deal with and that regulation enforcement or animal management had been there earlier than for allegations of animal abuse.
The narcotics-related investigation of Brodnax started in June by the Broward Sheriff’s Office Gang Investigations Task Force, based on a possible trigger affidavit. Detectives between January and the beginning of the investigation in June discovered from totally different sources that Brodnax was allegedly distributing medication.
In July, an undercover Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent met up with Brodnax at a veterinary clinic to buy $80 value of marijuana. The subsequent undercover purchase at one other location weeks later was for 50 pressed fentanyl tablets for $700, the affidavit mentioned.
The Gang Investigations Task Force and Davie Police Special Response Team executed a search warrant at Brodnax’s home within the 400 block of Southwest 132nd Avenue on Sept. 13, and Brodnax was arrested within the entrance yard of a neighbor’s home, the affidavit mentioned.
As authorities took Brodnax into custody, he threw his cellphone underneath a close-by trailer. Detectives referred to as it to be able to discover it. The neighbor whose yard Brodnax was arrested in advised police Brodnax mentioned he wanted to retailer issues on the home as a result of youngster protecting companies could also be coming, the affidavit mentioned.
Detectives searched the bag Brodnax dropped at his neighbor’s home and located a number of weapons. Inside Brodnax’s home, they discovered a pistol, a shotgun, a rifle, ammunition, a whole bunch of grams of marijuana and cocaine-fentanyl mixtures, scales, plastic luggage and over $9,000 in money, based on the affidavit.
Multiple young youngsters lived on the home, the affidavit mentioned. When detectives entered the trailer to conduct the search, they have been overcome with the scent of feces, a lot in order that they have been gagging, based on the 88-page criticism within the civil motion in opposition to Brodnax and Palladino.
A girl who bought a puppy from them in June mentioned “the house smelled like a ‘dead body,’” the criticism mentioned.
Detectives discovered a trafficking quantity of fentanyl tablets and roughly a kilogram of powder of a cocaine-fentanyl combine “in a hidden underground spider hole” inside a vent, the criticism mentioned. Marijuana and powder cocaine have been discovered on the ground in the lounge.
“The officers also found, next to the cocaine powder on the living room floor, the rather obvious source of the stench,” the criticism mentioned.
The small lounge was crammed with cages, some stacked on high of one another, of about 25 French bulldog-pitbull mixes. An enclosure in the lounge held a litter of puppies, the criticism mentioned. Davie Animal Control and different officers famous that a number of the dogs have been in “extreme distress,” together with some presumably practically affected by warmth stroke.
Most dogs had no meals or water. Many grownup dogs have been in cages too small for them to maneuver or flip round that had no bedding and have been coated in feces whereas different enclosures have been stuffed with urine, the criticism mentioned.
“The floor of the cages themselves made these enclosures unsuitable, cruel and unfit for habitation of dogs,” the criticism mentioned. “The small bare metal floors made it difficult for the dogs to walk or move around in these cages.”
Authorities discovered supplies per canine breeding and unlicensed at-home veterinarian care. They discovered papers promoting their business, “Paws to Riches,” based on the criticism.
“None of the dogs were able to walk on their own for more than a few feet and had to be carried out to transport trucks,” the criticism mentioned. “The dogs did not appear to be accustomed to being on leashes or to life outside the confinement of their cages.”
Brodnax was held within the Joseph V. Conte Facility as of Friday afternoon on at the least 27 felony expenses and 75 misdemeanor expenses associated to animal cruelty along with eight felony expenses stemming from the drug investigation, court docket data present.
Palladino was held within the Main Jail on at the least 26 felony expenses and 75 misdemeanor expenses associated to animal cruelty, based on court docket data.
