JUNO BEACH, Fla. — Loggerhead Marinelife Center's former marketing director is taking the Juno Beach facility to court.
Marilu Flores is claiming its management misled her and the public about water quality issues in the tanks, which she said killed baby sea turtles.
In the lawsuit, Flores said she took the job at the facility because she believed in the facility's mission of rehabilitating sea turtles and advocating for cleaner oceans.
Flores claims she and the public never got the full story.
Milo, a loggerhead turtle that was transferred from the Brevard Zoo, last month had to be euthanized, but its death is not being blamed on the facility.
The turtle had severe head injuries when it was transferred to the facility.
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But in a newly-filed lawsuit, Flores claims that "misdirection became the strategy."
Flores said that's how the facility's executives dealt with water quality issues that prevented the center from taking in new turtles last fall.
READ THE LAWSUIT BELOW:
The suit also shows a copy of an animal autopsy following the September deaths of baby turtles in the facility's care.
The necropsy cites "poor water quality that caused lesions," on the hatchlings that developed emphysema.
Flores would not comment on the lawsuit, but in a statement released by her lawyers said "Ms. Flores hungers to present the truth, even if it is not pretty."
A spokesperson for Loggerhead Marinelife tells WPTV Contact 5 that officials have not seen the lawsuit and could not comment.