Florida: This is what happens when you give David Rivera, who hanged his mother's Chihuahua to death, probation. Good job, Florida!

FLORIDA -- The headless animals found in a recycling bin in DeBary were part of a cleansing ritual, according to a Volusia sheriff’s report.

Probation Officer Justine Matherly told deputies she’d gone to 90 Dirksen Drive to check on her probationer, David Rivera, on the evening of May 16 when she noticed blood on Rivera’s head, according to the report.

Rivera, 25, claimed a "cleansing ritual" was taking place.

Sitting around the headless animals, which included birds, a goat and a turtle, were members of Rivera’s family who told Matherly they were performing a ritual abuse and torture of animals to cleanse Rivera of the schizophrenic thoughts he’d been having, according to the report.

The animal remains were found in a recycling bin on Toms Road by a bicyclist the morning after the ritual, according to the report. The incident remains under investigation.

Rivera was sentenced in November to five years of probation for felony animal cruelty, records show.

In April 2016, he was in an eight-hour standoff with deputies after he hanged his mother’s dog then threatened to hang himself.

Events began after Rivera, 24, was arguing with his mother at her home at 90 Dirksen Drive over his unemployment, according to the sheriff's report.

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That's when he dragged a 5-year-old Chihuahua named Benji out to the tree in his mother's backyard and dropped it from a limb with a metal chain around its neck, the report states, hanging it to death.

But then events took another turn and David, a former Deltona High School student, climbed 30 feet into the oak tree, tied a metal cable around his neck, swung the other end around a limb and threatened to jump, deputies said.

Too bad he didn't.

The 49-year-old mother of five sons immediately called 9-1-1.

"I have an emergency in my house. My son is crazy. He killed one of the dogs," cried Belica Rivera in the call as she tried to get emergency services to come out to her home, just across the street from Gemini Springs Dog Park.

Belica Rivera said she was urging her son to make money to help support two children he fathered — a son who lives with his mom in Indiana and a daughter who lives with her mother in Deltona.

Full Name: David Noell Rivera
Gender: Male
Race: Hispanic
Birthdate: 10/19/1991
Address: 90 Dirksen Dr, DeBary, Florida 32713
Party Affiliation: Democrat
Arrest Age: 25
Date:05/25/2017
Time: 2:10 PM
Arresting Agency: Volusia County Sheriff's Office
Charges
#1 FELONY CRUELTY TO ANIMALS
STATUTE: 828.12(2)(a)

(CB Emerald Coast - May 25, 2017)

Earlier:

• Florida: David Rivera hangs his mom's dog, threatens suicide in standoff up a tree

Florida: Sheriff's Office investigating disgusting case of animal cruelty

FLORIDA -- A cattle owner stumbling upon a disgusting case of animal cruelty on one of his own.

This animal cruelty case brought sheriff’s investigators to this remote area in Loxahatchee in the 6000 block of Dennis Street. This is way, way out here, in an area where there are few roads.

Nothing but canals and pastures.

Sheriff’s officials say a rancher was trying to feed his cattle when he made the shocking discovery: a severed leg belonging to one of his 1500 pound bulls just west of his pasture.

Investigators say the culprit or culprits left behind a saw, a wooden pallet and raincoats.

This incident was reported January 1.

Since the bull is such a heavy massive animal, it would seem that this had to be the work of at least a couple of people, perhaps more than that.

The sheriff’s office calls it a “heinous act.”

Last month three decapitated animals were discovered also in western communities in Palm Beach County.

A horse’s head with a bullet to the skull, found in the Acreage.

The same week, a decapitated goat and rooster were found in Loxahatchee Groves. Animal Care and Control said those two decapitations appear to be a ritualistic killing.

The sheriff’s office has not said if the cases are connected.

(CBS12 - Jan 5, 2017)

Injustice in Florida: Monieram Rathibhan, 59, pleads guilty to horrific animal cruelty at illegal slaughterhouse. Gets just 90 days house arrest, 3 years probation

FLORIDA -- Instead of jurors watching undercover videos of goats and other farm animals being illegally slaughtered, the charges against a rancher ended in a plea deal Wednesday.

Now all eight men arrested in law enforcement raids of three Loxahatchee farms Oct. 13 have had their cases resolved, pleasing a Miami animal rights group that secretly recorded the videos.

 

 

  

Only one man took his case to a jury, resulting in convictions and a one-year jail sentence. The rest took plea offers from the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office.

The final deal was for Monieram Rathibhan, 59, owner of Medina Farms. With his trial scheduled to begin Monday, he pleaded guilty to five animal cruelty charges, including three felonies.

Circuit Judge Krista Marx should not have accepted this deal
Circuit Judge Krista Marx sentenced Rathibhan to three years of probation, including 90 days in Palm Beach County Jail that could be converted to house arrest.

"You shall not possess farm animals of any kind," Marx told the longtime farmer, noting that the restrictions include "horses, cattle, cows, goats, pigs and ducks."

Rathibhan also is banned from participating in any animal slaughtering operations, and his property will be subject to random inspections by deputies who work in the sheriff's agricultural crimes unit.

"Investigators have witnessed and documented extreme acts of animal cruelty such as, slitting goat's necks while they are restrained on their backs, forced to suffocate in their own blood, as well as slitting and severing the throats of cows with extremely dull blades before hoisting them by their hind legs and skinning them alive, often dragging out their death for over 20 minutes," authorities said.

Any violations could reopen the case, meaning he could face new punishments under the felonies that altogether are punishable by up to 25 years in prison.

But if Rathibhan fully complies with the terms, negotiated by prosecutor Judith Arco and defense attorney Christian Van Riper, he will not have felony convictions on his record.

As long as this POS Monieram Rathibhan doesn't get arrested in the next three years, THIS WILL ALL BE WIPED OFF HIS CRIMINAL RECORD -- AS THOUGH IT HAD NEVER HAPPENED. AS THOUGH HE HAD NEVER TORTURED AND SKINNED ALIVE AND BOILED ALIVE AND STRANGLED AND STOMPED AND HANGED ANIMALS FOR YEARS. 

"I'm pleased to see he's doing some jail time with the violent crimes he committed," Animal Recovery Mission founder Richard Couto told the Sun Sentinel.

The organization has cited Rathibhan for allegedly torturing thousands of animals over three decades — "we are happy he's shut down," Couto said.

Years of community complaints about suspected animal torture prompted investigators with the animal rights group to pose as meat-seeking customers at Medina Farms, Rancho Garcia and Paso Fino G.A. Farm last summer.

A video from Aug. 22, 2015 shows a Medina Farms worker inviting one of Couto's investigators to watch the slaughter of a white goat on the property in the 2100 block of C Road. The footage shows the goat being placed on a wooden rack.

"Without rendering the goat insensitive to pain, [the worker] cuts into the goat's neck. The goat struggles and kicks violently, causing Monieram Rathibhan to grab its legs and hold it down," the arrest report states.

In a Sept. 9 video, Rathibhan is recorded shooting a black and white Holstein cow in the head with what appeared to be a .22-caliber rifle. The cow fell to its knees but didn't immediately die.

"A .22-caliber is not the appropriate caliber for a cow of its size," a veterinarian noted for investigators.

The cow struggled as Rathibhan cut its neck. As the cow kicked its legs, the worker proceeded to butcher the animal, according to the report.

Medina Farm's customers largely consisted of Muslims, "who bought animals to be slaughtered for human consumption and ritualistic sacrifice," authorities said.

In March, a jury convicted rancher Jorge Garcia (aka Jorge Luis Garcia), 48, on four misdemeanor animal cruelty charges concerning the illegal slaughter of two goats on his property, which has since been foreclosed.

 

Authorities said undercover ARM investigators witnessed and captured footage of Garcia and his employees "selling large amounts of horse meat, violently stabbing pigs in the heart and boiling them alive, slitting throats of goats and rams before hoisting them by their hind legs then skinning them alive, and brutally stomping on ducks, slitting their throats and drowning them in their own blood."

While sentencing Garcia, Circuit Judge Samantha Schosberg Feuer said she considered testimony about how many farm animals, not just the slaughtered goats, were "tortured, brutalized and lived in squalor."

(Sun Sentinel - ‎Aug 17, 2016)

Earlier:

• Loxahatchee animal cruelty bust largest in U.S. history

Virginia: Mercy Carrion, 43, tried to say her religion gives her the right to torture and kill animals. The judge disagreed and found her guilty of animal cruelty (but then gives her probation)

VIRGINIA -- Mercy Carrion greeted the officers who arrived at her Loudoun County home in April to investigate a report of animal cruelty in a blood-soaked white shirt, according to testimony at her trial Wednesday.

Blood was smeared around the doorway of the home, a large knife was found next to the kitchen sink, and the decapitated bodies of two roosters were discovered in a filing cabinet, officers told a judge.

Despite the grisly scene, Carrion, 43, of Sterling, Va., argued in Loudoun County Court on Wednesday that the animal cruelty charges brought against her violated her First Amendment right to freedom of religion. She is a priestess in the Afro-Caribbean religion of Santeria, whose practitioners sometimes offer animal sacrifices.

If your religion said you could rape children, I don't think the law would allow you to do that...

“I tried to explain to [the officer] you offered the bodies of the animals to the saints,” Carrion told the court through a Spanish interpreter. “There are elders in my church, and I was instructed to do this.”

A Loudoun County prosecutor sidestepped the religious issue, arguing that Carrion could sacrifice the birds, but she flouted Virginia law by failing to care for them beforehand and then slaughtering them in an inhumane way.

“She has a right to practice her religion,” Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Alexandra Hazel said in her closing argument. “She deprived these animals of food, water and shelter and then cruelly killed them.”

A judge ultimately sided with the prosecutor, convicting Carrion of three misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty, but not before an unusual trial played out that featured testimony about a rooster autopsy, or necropsy, and an expert on religions of the African diaspora.

Loudoun County animal control officers testified that they were called to Carrion’s home on April 25 for a report of animal cruelty. They found three roosters in feces- and urine-soaked beer boxes in Carrion’s basement. One officer said the birds could not properly move in the boxes.

Officers returned the next day at 1 a.m. to serve a search warrant on Carrion’s home and found her in the bloody shirt. Carrion testified that she killed the birds just before officers knocked on her door because she wanted to follow through on the sacrifice.

Santeria is a religion that combines elements of Catholicism, West African religious beliefs and the traditions of the indigenous people of the Americas. It is often practiced by the descendants of slaves brought to the Americas.

The officers testified that they found no evidence of food for the roosters in the house and that Carrion told them that the roosters she had killed had died over the course of three to five minutes, a period Hazel argued was not humane. They also recovered one live rooster.

Michael Gast, a veterinarian, testified that the dead birds and the live rooster were emaciated and showed signs that their muscles had wasted away. He said the dead birds’ heads were severed in a careful manner after examining them during a necropsy.

“There was an intricate cut,” Gast testified. “It would take some skill to do that.”

Gro Mambo Danthoula Novanyon Idizol, executive board secretary of the National African Religious Congress, testified for the defense that Carrion, who is originally from Ecuador, was a certified priestess in Santeria. Mercy Carrion is her given name.

Idizol said Santeria practitioners should keep animals properly, before they are slaughtered humanely, and should be disposed of in a proper fashion. She said animals are often prayed over and bathed with herbs before they are killed.

Idizol said Carrion’s handling of the animals was not inhumane.

“In this country that we live in, people do not have access to all of the things necessary in our belief systems,” Idizol testified. “If you’re asking me if this is inhumane, I don’t think so.”

When she took the stand, Carrion testified that she fed the roosters and had purchased them in the condition the officers found them. She told the judge that she had owned them for only two to three days before the slaughter.

Michelle Welch, director of Attorney General Mark Herring’s Animal Law Unit, said that under Virginia law, people cannot treat animals cruelly, even if it is for religious reasons.

“The issue is with the manner of the killing of an animal and whether it constitutes cruelty,” Welch said in a statement. “Virginia State Code does not include a specific religious exemption that would allow someone to kill an animal in a way that constitutes cruelty.”

Judge Deborah C. Welsh sentenced Carrion to a suspended jail sentence and ordered her to undergo training in how to properly sacrifice animals through a class Idizol’s group offers. Carrion and her attorney declined to comment on the outcome of the trial.

(Washington Post - Aug 3, 2016)

Earlier:

• Virginia: Mercy Carrion, 43, charged with animal cruelty after admitting to torturing and killing chickens in brutal, horrific ways
• Virginia: Mercy Carrion facing animal cruelty charges denied custody of rooster

Virginia: Mercy Carrion facing animal cruelty charges denied custody of rooster

VIRGINIA -- he woman facing animal cruelty charges after allegedly sacrificing chickens for religious purposes has been denied custody of a rooster that was seized from her home.

Mercy Carrion, who was arrested on May 5,  appealed to Loundoun County Circuit Court Wednesday to regain custody of the rooster, but the appeal was denied by Judge Jeanette A. Irby.

On April 25, Loundoun County Animal Control responded to a call in the 100 block of Sherwood Court in Sterling, Va. It was reported that chickens were being inhumanely killed at Carrion’s home.

According to the warrant from Animal Services, Carrion would kill between 12 to 15 chickens a week, primarily on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

The informant also reported seeing Carrion “run around the house, slamming the chickens to the wall, bludgeon them to death with a club, bury the chickens alive, burn the chickens alive and cut them from the top of the neck, down the center of the body, while still alive,” according to the search warrant.

While investigating the scene, officers from Animal Services found evidence that the chickens had been sacrificed.Carrion admitted to taking part in the animal sacrifices at her residence. She was charged with three misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty.

Carrion is scheduled to have a preliminary hearing in Loundoun General District Court on August 3.

(DCW50 - July 28, 2016)

Earlier:

• Virginia: Mercy Carrion, 43, charged with animal cruelty after admitting to torturing and killing chickens in brutal, horrific ways

Virginia: Mercy Carrion, 43, charged with animal cruelty after admitting to torturing and killing chickens in brutal, horrific ways

VIRGINIA -- A Virginia woman has been charged with animal cruelty after Loudoun County authorities allege she inhumanely killed 12 to 15 chickens weekly for ritual sacrifices.

Loudoun County Animal Services received a complaint on April 25 claiming that animals in a home on Sherwood Court in Sterling were “being cruelly killed,” said Angela Chan, a deputy chief with the department.

After an investigation, an animal services officer found evidence of chickens being treated inhumanely for “some sort of ritual practice,” Chan said.

Mercy Carrion, 43, has been charged with three counts of animal cruelty in connection with the case, authorities said.

Carrion, “admitted to participating in animal sacrifices at the residence as recent as two months ago” and told the officer that animal sacrifices take place in her home’s living room, according to the warrant.

Chan said it was unclear how long the alleged sacrifices had been taking place at the home or how many chickens in total have been sacrificed.

Chan could not detail the evidence found in the investigation, but a warrant obtained by the Loudoun Times-Mirror, which first reported the story, indicated an animal control officer saw “what appeared to be blood splatter on the walls of the accused’s living room, religious idols, a club with a metal shield covered in dried blood and feathers, a large human bone, animal heads and parts skewered on sticks in a vase.”

The warrant also stated there were “two cauldrons with various animal torturing devices” along with bowls filled with animal blood and two dead roosters in the home, according to the Times-Mirror.

The informant also reported seeing Carrion “run around the house, slamming the chickens to the wall, bludgeon them to death with a club, bury the chickens alive, burn the chickens alive and cut them from the top of the neck, down the center of the body, while still alive,” according to the search warrant.

The officer reported seeing a dish with animal parts, salt and blood in a bathroom; two cauldrons with various animal torturing devices in a closet; several bowls filled with animal blood; chicken bones in jars and candles; sacrificial religious pamphlets in a dresser drawer; animal skins; two dead roosters and a plastic container with a syringe and a powdery substance.

Documents filed in Loudoun County indicate that at least one rooster was seized from the property, according to a court clerk.

Erin Peterson, deputy chief of LCAS, said her department hasn’t seen a case like this in at least five to 10 years.

“We typically see companion animals when it comes to inhumane euthanasia cases,” she said. “Sometimes we also see livestock inhumanely euthanized.”

There are no state laws that allow for religious exemption to inhumane euthanasia that LCAS is aware of or privy to, said Peterson.

In order for animal euthanasia to be considered humane, the method must involve instantaneous unconsciousness and immediate death or anesthesia, said Peterson.

Online court records indicate Carrion is due in court for trial on June 10.

(Washington Post - May 20, 2016)

Florida: Loxahatchee illegal slaughterhouse / animal cruelty bust largest in U.S. history

Slaughterhouse owners, employees accused of torturing animals, selling meat on black market

FLORIDA -- Authorities in Palm Beach County raided three illegal slaughterhouses Tuesday morning in Loxahatchee with the help of officials with the Animal Recovery Mission.

The operation resulted in the arrests of the slaughterhouse owners and employees.

 

Authorities said the owners were involved in the underground and illegal slaughter of horses and illegal sale of their meat for human consumption.

Tuesday's raid was the largest tactical strike on extreme animal cruelty operations in U.S. history.

One of the owners was identified as Jorge Garcia, who runs Rancho Garcia, 15703 Orange Blvd. Authorities said Garcia's customers have been traveling to Loxahatchee from the Miami area for decades and said Garcia purchases his horses from animal auctions and Craigslist.

Garcia is also accused of selling the animals for black magic and sacrificial purposes.

Authorities said undercover ARM investigators witnessed and captured footage of Garcia and his employees "selling large amounts of horse meat, violently stabbing pigs in the heart and boiling them alive, slitting throats of goats and rams before hoisting them by their hind legs then skinning them alive, and brutally stomping on ducks, slitting their throats and drowning them in their own blood."

Garcia also used a section of his farm to run a puppy mill, where he breeds and sells dogs, authorities said.

G.A. Paso Fino, 14873 Collecting Canal Road was also raided and shut down Tuesday.

Authorities said the property is used for the training, breeding and selling of horses for slaughter, and is owned by Orlando Guzman.

Guzman rents part of the land in the back of the property to Edgar Sr. Bica and Edgar Jr. Bica, who are also accused of running an illegal slaughterhouse.

ARM investigators said the men supplied horse meat on the black market in the Loxahatchee and greater Wellington areas for decades, and tortured and slaughtered chickens, pigs and goats.

Investigators said the men killed the animals the same way as Garcia and said they would also throw live armadillos into boiling water.

Investigators said a puppy mill was being operated on the site, and the dogs were contained in small cages "riddled with excrement and rust and no water available."

Cock fighting roosters were also discovered on the property.

The final slaughterhouse raided Tuesday was Medina Farm, 2151 C. Road.

Authorities said the farm is legally incorporated, but claim the owner Jay and his employee, Jose, have been illegally slaughtering and torturing animals on their farm for decades.

"ARM investigators have witnessed and documented extreme acts of animal cruelty such as, slitting goat's necks while they are restrained on their backs, forced to suffocate in their own blood, as well as slitting and severing the throats of cows with extremely dull blades before hoisting them by their hind legs and skinning them alive, often dragging out their death for over 20 minutes," authorities said.

Medina Farm's customers largely consisted of Muslims, "who bought animals to be slaughtered for human consumption and ritualistic sacrifice," authorities said.

(Local 10 - Oct 13, 2015)

Florida: Adult film star Raul Armenteros, 47, pleads guilty to leaving tied up animals in hot van to die

FLORIDA -- Raul Armenteros, 47, quietly pleaded guilty to 21 counts of cruelty to animals recently, a year after he was nabbed for having 21 farm animals in his overheated van.

Armenteros was sentenced to time served — the 93 days he stayed in the county slammer after he was arrested — and $11,513 in fines and penalties.

And he’ll be on probation for five years and has been ordered to serve 200 hours of community service.

In an agreement with the Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s office, Armenteros pleaded guilty, according to records, to one felony and 20 misdemeanors.

“There were mitigating circumstances,” Anthony Alvarez, Armenteros’ defense attorney, tells Gossip Extra. “We were able to reach an amicable accord with the prosecutors because my client had no prior record.”

Alvarez says he was able to work out a deal because the animals that Armenteros was transporting were for use in Santeria rituals. (Santeria is a religion found in Cuba and parts of Africa with rituals that include animal sacrifices.)

“These were not for acts of violence but religious rituals,” Alvarez said. “There’s a lot of hypocrisy here. The same people who were screaming about this are probably having a steak right now.”

Hey moron. We don't put the cows inside plastic bags in the trunks of our cars to die.

Last year, police were called after a passer-by heard what they thought were screams from a baby coming from the van.

Officers found no child inside the vehicle, but discovered the menagerie of animals, which included eight roosters, four guinea hens, four pigeons, four goats and a duck.

The goats were allegedly tied up in plastic bags and one had died by the time police arrived.

Armenteros, 46, and his friend James Arroyo Jr, 44, were arrested when they came back to the van 45 minutes after officers responded the scene.

The two men were each charged with 22 counts of animal cruelty and were given bonds of $110,000.

(Gossip Extra - Aug 15, 2012)