by Teresa Eubanks, Journal Editor
LESLIE ANSELMO MEYERS
Just days before he was to go in front of a judge in Bristol for violating Liberty County’s Animal Control Ordinance, Leslie Meyers, 38, was arrested on animal abuse charges in Broward County.
The Tallahassee man whose dogs were seized after they were found chained to trees on his Liberty County property in December was arrested Jan. 10 in Dania Beach when a deputy with the Broward County Sheriff’s Office found four undernourished adult dogs in crates and a dead puppy in a rental car parked at a Red Carpet Inn.
“There was a bag of food in the car, however the animals had no to access to it,” according to a spokesman with the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.
The spokesman said Meyers was going to take the animals to the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The four dogs, described as American Staffordshire mixes, were in bad shape. They were taken to Broward County Animal Care.
Meyers was later released on bond from Broward County in time to make a Jan. 14 civil hearing in Bristol. He was fined $500, which must be paid by Jan. 31, and given until Jan. 26 to file to get back several pit bulls taken from his 10-acre property in Forest Tower Farms, west of Bristol along SR 20.
Following last week’s hearing, he was arrested for misdemeanor animal neglect. He was released from the Liberty County Jail on Jan. 16 on $7,500 bond and is due back in court Feb 2.
“Right now, the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office is paying for the care of the dogs,” said Major Brian Langston. He estimated the costs up to this point at around $4,000 and said he is working on a grant request for $3,000 through the Humane Society.
“Financially, it’s hurting our office,” Langston said. “We don’t have the money for it but technically, we have no choice.”
He said the dogs that were seized last month are not unfriendly to people “but we can’t let them around other dogs.”
Currently, one of the dogs seized from the property in Liberty County was taken to Bay County, six adult dogs were transported to a rescue facility in Welborne, three other adults and two puppies were taken to a rescue site in Georgia and two other dogs are staying with a family in Bristol.
Meyers is well known to Tallahassee authorities, having been charged with “several crimes relating to animal cruelty and dog fighting,” according to a news release on the Leon County Sheriff’s Office website.