Titusville man charged with animal cruelty after deputies find 2 dogs starved to death

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — A Titusville man is headed to jail after deputies say he allowed two dogs to starve to death at his home and nearly killed a third.

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Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey said their investigation into 38-year-old Robert Swindoll began Tuesday afternoon when a concerned citizen called BCSO’s Animal Enforcement Team to report dogs in distress at a home on Nicholson Street in Titusville.

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The team responded to the location and wasn’t able to make contact with anyone, but they were able to see two dogs on the property that had died and a third that was “extremely emaciated.”

Warning: Contains graphic images

According to the Sheriff’s Office, the dogs that had already passed were also extremely thin and had been tied up without food or water.

The sheriff’s office secured a warrant for Swindoll charging him with three counts of felony cruelty to animals and three counts of misdemeanor confinement of an animal without food or water.

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He’s being held in the Brevard County Jail on $7,500 bond, the highest amount allowable for those charges.

“This individual doesn’t deserve to be treated like he’s going to be treated in here,” Sheriff Ivey said of Swindoll’s arrest. “He deserves to be treated how he treated those poor helpless pups.”

Ivey noted the the actual owner of the dogs wasn’t allowed to live at the home anymore, but was still taking dog food to them. Despite this, Ivey says Swindoll only fed his own dogs and allowed the others to starve.

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The surviving dog was left in the custody of the county’s veterinary team with the hope of nursing it back to health.

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