MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Police arrested a southwest Miami-Dade woman on two animal cruelty charges Wednesday after accusing her of leaving a hungry dog caged in a backyard in deplorable conditions.
According to a Miami-Dade police report, the investigation dates back to July 7, when an officer was sent to an apartment building in the 15000 block of Southwest 282nd Street, in the Leisure City area, to look into a report of animal cruelty.
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An officer arrived to find the dog in a cage, “sitting in a pool of (its) urine and feces” in the backyard, police said.
“No food or water was observed inside the cage or in the vicinity,” the officer wrote. “The canine appeared emaciated with multiple sores visible along (its) body.”
Police said they identified Mercedez Laporsha Cochran as the dog’s owner and said the 36-year-old caused the animal “unnecessary pain and suffering.”
According to the arrest report, Cochran was arrested after coming into the Miami-Dade Police Department’s Cutler Bay station for questioning Wednesday. Police redacted an alleged confession from the report.
Police took Cochran to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, where she was scheduled to post a $6,000 bond on a felony charge of animal cruelty with intent to injure or kill and a misdemeanor charge of confining an animal without food, water or exercise.