LEE COUNTY, Fla. — A Florida man is accused of torturing a dog before killing it and then placing the animal in a hot oven, authorities said.
Vicasso Lara, 24, of Lehigh Acres, was charged with torturing an animal, inflicting pain and serious injury, and causing death, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release posted on its Facebook page.
Deputies conducted a well-being check at a Lehigh Acres residence at 10 p.m. Friday, the Fort Myers News-Press reported.
“I’m speechless,” Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said in a news release. “This is possibly the most brutal and horrific example of animal abuse my team or I have ever seen.”
After speaking with Lara and a witness, they responded to another residence, where they saw several pools of blood outside the home and bloody footprints near its rear entrance, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Detectives executed a search warrant and discovered the body of a dog in a kitchen oven, which had been turned up to its highest setting, WINK-TV reported.
Detectives said the dog had been stabbed and bludgeoned before it was placed in the oven, the television station reported.
Lara was arrested early Saturday and booked into the Lee County Jail, according to arrest records. He is due in court May 4.