Mother, daughter charged with animal cruelty after dead animals found at Jacksonville motel

FLORIDA -- A woman and one of two daughters she was living with at a Jacksonville motel have been charged with animal cruelty after dead and malnourished dogs and a cat were found in their rooms.

Friday police could not enter one of the rooms at the Youngerman Circle Super 8 due to the stench of decaying animals wrapped in plastic and placed in crates, according to the arrest reports. An emaciated pit bull found locked in a feces-strewn bathroom in one of the two rooms was too weak to stand. Another dog on a bed was barely able to breathe and a third was still alive in a crate.

Seantey Jimenez

Denise Jimenez

A bag of lime on a bed was used to kill fleas in the room and not to cover the smell, police were told.

An animal control investigator said the situation was the worst he had seen and that the animals had no muscle mass.

Police were told the three women lived at the motel for about two months. One of the dogs suffered a cut and died several days earlier, followed by the unexplained deaths of a second dog and a cat. The women didn’t know what to do with the animals so wrapped them and put them in the crates until they could find a solution, the report said.

Police said all three women had equal access to the animals and were aware of their conditions.

Denise Jimenez, 40, and Seantey Jimenez, 21, were each charged with six counts of felony animal cruelty. The third woman was not charged due to mental issues, the report said.

(Jacksonville.com - Nov 6, 2013)