Florida Pit Bull Starved To Death: Joseph Raymond Frederick Ran From Animal Cruelty Charges

A Florida pit bull starved to death in Cocoa resulted in a search for the owner, 39-year-old Joseph Raymond Frederick. The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office turned to social media in order to hunt the man down, and eventually, they found and arrested him.

In a related report by the Inquisitr, several dog killers left a note bragging about their deed after they beat a dog to death.

Brevard county Sheriff Wayne Ivey wrote about the condition of the starving pit bull on the police department’s Facebook.

“The suspect abandoned this dog in a state of starvation, which ultimately resulted in the death of the animal. As a result of the severe cruelty and mistreatment at the hands of the defendant, the dog suffered tremendously over an extended period of time and unfortunately, could not be saved even with the emergency medical services by the staff of a local Veterinarian.”

Neighbor Sharon Farnsworth said Romeo the pit bull made sounds like he was being injured.

“We’ve heard dogs whining, dogs that sounded like they were being injured,” she said, according to My News 13. “Practically everybody on this street doesn’t understand why these dogs were yelping like that all the time… He should be charged.”

After photos of the starving pit bull were put on social media, the Brevard County Sheriff said even some of Frederick’s friends wanted to turn him in “because they are so outraged over what he did.” The sheriff says the social media post caused tips to pour in, and eventually they managed to track Frederick down.

“Due to the incredible support of our citizens, the post garnered the attention of thousands as it was shared across the country,” Ivey wrote. “The post reached over 600,000 people and generated over 50 different tips. As a result of the tips and some good old fashion investigative work, our Agents located and arrested him at a Hotel in Cocoa.”

The sheriff believes Frederick knew he was being hunted due to having the pit bull starved to death. After being arrested on animal cruelty charges, Frederick told officers that he had planned on turning himself in the next day, but the sheriff says that was not enough.

“Here is a tip for you Frederick, if you harm an animal or human in Brevard County you won’t get the chance to plan your surrender as we are coming to get you!” Sheriff Ivey said.

[Image via Brevard Co. Sheriff’s Office]