SEBASTIAN, Fla. — Deputies in two counties are investigating two animal abuse arrests in less than a week on the Treasure Coast.
Indian River County deputies seized 13 animals from the home of Katherine Clarke on Wednesday, arresting the 61-year-old woman on thirteen counts of animal abuse and one count of unlawful confinement of animals.
According to court documents, in the first case, law enforcement first went to Clarke's Sebastian home on Carnation Drive in September after receiving calls from neighbors reporting animals being neglected.
According to neighbor Jennifer Mooney, she called animal control multiple times since April 2023 when animals started coming into her yard looking neglected.
"Just covered in feces and urine, just in really bad shape," Mooney said. "It was awful. It was awful."
Documents show deputies, along with animal control and Sebastian police officers, went out to the home for animal welfare checks multiple times between September 2023 and February 2024.
Deputies in those documents described the odor inside the home as so pungent it was "hard to breathe" and "hard to maintain balance."
They also described the floor of the home as "barely visible" and covered in feces, trash and maggots.
Deputies said what little water the dogs had was also covered in feces and garbage, and said Clarke had the decomposing body of a dog in her car and her kitchen on at least one occasion.
"People were gagging and everything because of the smell," Mooney said. "It's just not fair to these animals, they don't have a voice."
Deputies seized 13 animals from her home in February before her arrest. The animals included three cats and 10 dogs, all of which went to the Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River County for medical treatment.
"I cried the whole night after they were rescued, I just felt this huge wave of relief, weight lifted off my shoulders knowing that they were finally safe," Mooney said.
"They're all traumatized," Liz Smokowski, the CEO of the Human Society of Vero Beach, said.
Smokowski said almost all of the animals came in with skin conditions and behavioral issues, and said all but one dog have since been adopted.
"He's a dog named Sammy. Sammy has some behavioral issues, clearly got some concerns about trusting humans, so our behavior team is really working with him," Smokowski said. "Working on getting him to an adaptability level."
Dogs Seized In Stuart
Martin County Chief Deputy John Budensiek said last week deputies were assisting the Stuart Police Department in a homicide investigation and found at least 14 dogs in the backyard of a home on Spruce Avenue in Stuart.
"In extremely deplorable conditions," Budensiek said.
Budensiek said the dogs included several different breeds, including a few pit bulls, bulldogs and Labradors.
He said they were kept in small, handmade wooden crates, some of which were covered in tarps. He said the animals were confined without food, water, or space to move.
"The ones that did have water, it was dirty, it hadn’t been changed in quite some time, they were covered in feces and urine," Budensiek said. "You could see the ribs in several of the dogs."
In addition to being underweight, Budensiek said some of them have bad skin and eye infections along with internal parasites and ringworm.
Just two days after the Sebastian incident, Martin County deputies arrested the homeowner, Rosetta Saez, 47, and her son, Daniel Wilson, 19. Wilson is charged with 14 counts of animal abuse while Saez faces one count. They had seized 15 dogs from the home on Spruce Avenue in Stuart days before the arrest.
Budensiek said the Saez and Wilson were arrested Friday while almost all of the dogs were taken to the Humane Society of the Treasure Coast to receive medical treatment.
Wilson faces 14 counts of animal cruelty and is held on a $40,000 bond. Saez faces one count of animal cruelty and was held on a $2,500 bond.
Clarke's bond was set at $70,000.
WPTV attempted to contact all three suspects but did not hear back.