Authorities from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office reported seizing several animals, including dogs, an alligator, young raccoons, and turtles from a site under investigation for drug-related activities, where the animals had suffered abuse.
In Jacksonville, Fla., officials discovered numerous dogs, raccoons, turtles, and a 9-foot-long alligator illegally kept and mistreated on a Westside property. Although the initial probe targeted a drug trafficking operation, the findings led to animal cruelty and dog fighting charges against 49-year-old Marquis Williams.
Police found cocaine, oxycodone, marijuana and guns on the property, JSO said. Williams was charged with multiple felonies related to these findings.
During the investigation, officers uncovered equipment and paraphernalia related to dog fighting, including trophies and literature, before finding “numerous” dogs in squalid conditions, deprived of water, and exhibiting “serious signs of neglect.” These included being afflicted with feces, flea infestations, infections, and varying stages of wounds. Similar signs of neglect were evident in the raccoons and turtles discovered at the scene, according to the JSO.
But what they called the most shocking discovery was a 9-foot alligator being kept in a small, fenced area. It had no access to water. “Bones scattered on the ground suggested he was being fed the other animals on the property,” JSO wrote in a social media post.
A nuisance alligator wrangler from the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission came to remove the alligator.
Williams faces more than a dozen charges related to the treatment of the animals and dog fighting, including a charge of “illegal killing, possessing, or capturing of alligators or crocodilian or eggs.”
He is set to be arraigned July 1.
