Lakeland nurse accused of fatally poisoning her neighbors’ pet cats, pregnant Chihuahua

LAKELAND, Fla. — A nurse in Lakeland is accused of poisoning and killing her neighbors’ pets, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.

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Deputies said Tamesha Knighten, 51, was arrested and charged with three counts of felony animal cruelty and one count of depositing poison in a public area.

Knighten is also a licensed practical nurse working for United Health Care at Wellmed in Lakeland, according to a report.

Deputies said Knighten purposely poisoned a neighbor’s two pet cats and their pregnant Chihuahua, which also killed eight unborn puppies.

Watch: Deltona passes new ordinance to prevent animal cruelty

Investigators were called after the two cats, Luna and Pancake, died within hours of each other.

Both cats were found choking, unable to breathe, foaming from the mouth, and in obvious significant pain, deputies said.

Hours later a pregnant Chihuahua, named Daisy, owned by the neighbor was also found dead near the home, according to a report.

Deputies said the victims told them that Knighten had repeatedly threatened to poison their pets if the pets came into her yard.

See: More than 300 neglected animals removed from Central Florida home, sheriff says

On the day that the pets died, they noticed Knighten pacing in her yard along the shared fence line. She had also yelled at the victims’ children that day, who were outside playing ball, deputies said.

Deputies said Knighten told them she had placed ant bait outside on the ground around her air conditioning unit.

Deputies said they found a white Styrofoam bowl on the ground in the victims’ yard with “a white meaty substance mixed with a dark colored material.”

Detectives said Knighten has cameras in her yard and when shown the video they could see her wearing a blue glove, holding a white Styrofoam bowl containing a white and brown substance.

Read: Woman accused of animal cruelty after throwing 7 puppies out of her trunk at Marion County shelter

Deputies said chemical analysis confirmed that the pets had ingested Phorate, a pesticide found in insecticides, which matched the sample from the laced canned chicken in the bowl.

Doctors told investigators that Phorate would have caused the animals to suffer.

“This suspect, despite all evidence to the contrary, repeatedly denied killing her neighbor’s pets, even telling our detectives that she’s a nurse and had too much to lose,” said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd. “Well guess what? These people lost their beloved pets in a most horrific way, and she lost her freedom by going to jail. It takes a cold-hearted person to poison and kill two cats and a pregnant dog—it’s hard to imagine how a person in the medical field could do such a thing.”

Knighten was arrested and booked into the Polk County Jail.

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