Make sure you know where your animals and supplies come from

[neilgolli]

This is a local pet shop owner who does many of the shows in the florida market. I've met the guy 100 times, always thought he was a little weird but this??????????? All I can say is wow..............



Pet store owner charged with animal cruelty

PLANT CITY -- A pet store owner with a history of sex offenses was arrested this afternoon on felony animal cruelty charges after the owner of a Shih Tzu complained that the dog returned from a grooming appoinment with razor cuts to its face and genitals.

Authorities had also recently gotten a complaint from the owner of a Lhasa apso who suspected that her dog had been choked when it was left at the pet store to be groomed. After she got the dog back, its eyes were severely bloodshot, said Hillsborough County Animal Services spokeswoman Marti Ryan.

Gary Mark Hicks, 36, who owns Pet City at 1103 N Wheeler Road in Plant City, was charged with two counts of animal cruelty and one count of improper confinement of an animal. When animal control officers went to Hicks' house in Dover, they found a severely underweight boxer dog that was being kept without food or water, Ryan said.

Hicks became a registered sexual predator with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement after a September 1999 conviction for sexual battery on a victim under 12. He also was convicted of other sex crimes. He was sentenced to 10 years of probation.

He was charged with violating his probation in 2004 when he owned another pet store called It's Alive Pets on State Road 60 in Brandon. Hicks, then 33, was arrested after complaints that he offered an 18-year-old employee alcohol on two occasions and made suggestive remarks.

Today's arrest came after animal control officers investigated the Shih Tzu owner's complaint. Hicks was charged with animal cruelty in the cases of the Shih Tzu and the boxer that was found in his house. In the case of the Lhasa apso, authorities had earlier filed a civil citation against Hicks because they didn't have enough evidence to file a criminal charge, Ryan said.

In the case involving the boxer, Hicks' live-in girlfriend -- Heather Ashley Morrison, 19 -- also was charged with animal cruelty and improper confinement of an animal.

-- Mike Brassfield





http://blogs.tampabay.com/breakingnews/

[Shadowspider]

Dang, pedophile animal abusers.... just lovely.

[PythonWallace]

Had he received more than a slap on the wrist for being a convicted pederass, these other crimes might not have happened. Sound's like he could have been on the path of a future serial killer. Just sick.

Edit: I'll be saying the same things when R Kelly gets arrested for having starving pit bulls in his back yard.

[python.princess]

and this from somebody who had supposedly dedicated his life to animals....

*shakes her head in disgust and walks away*