A Florida nurse has been arrested for allegedly administering pesticides to her neighbor's pets after threatening to kill them if they continued to invade her yard.
Tamesha Knighten was charged Wednesday with three counts of animal cruelty after Polk County Sheriff's Office detectives said she poisoned two of her cats and a pregnant Chihuahua on Aug. 16, 2023. He was arrested on one count of distributing a poisonous substance at the scene.
Authorities say the 51-year-old registered nurse also killed eight puppies in her womb.
“You could see one of them in great pain and the other was already dead,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said at a news conference. According to WFLA.
“Those who were in severe suffering died instantly,” he added.
Two cats, Luna and Pancake, died within hours of each other, prompting authorities to investigate. Officials said the two felines were choking, foaming at the mouth and in severe pain.
Luna and Pancake's owners then realized their pregnant 4-year-old dog, Daisy, was missing and began looking for her. But by the time they found her, she was already dead.
The owners of the dead animals told detectives that Knighten had previously threatened to poison their pets if they continued to stand in his yard. They also said they saw Knighten walking around her yard the day the pet died.
Judd said Knighten was caught on home surveillance footage wearing rubber gloves and bringing chicken strips mixed with what he called a “special seasoning” into his garden to feed the neighborhood animals. It is said that he was being beaten.
Samples taken from the bowl and the dead pet confirmed that the “special seasoning” was phosphate, an insecticide found in pesticides, officials said.
“Never poison an innocent animal,” Judd said. “Unless, of course, you also want to go to jail.”
“We call her 'Japanese Navy,'” Judd said. She said, “She's a nurse in prison.''
Judd said it took so long to make an arrest in this case because samples had to be sent to three different university labs.
“These people lost their beloved pet in the most horrific way, and she lost her freedom by going to prison,” Judd said in a release. “It would take a ruthless person to poison two cats and a pregnant dog. It's hard to imagine how someone in the medical field could do something like that.”
Knighten, who worked at WellMed United Healthcare in Lakeland, was charged with three counts of felony animal cruelty.
She was booked into the Polk County Jail, but it's unclear if she was released on bond.
