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Man Arrested On 78 Animal Cruelty Charges: Report Offers Complete Details
February 18, 2012
Three days after the first animals of about 90 animals were seized from a Lawson Lane home, a Cantonment man is behind bars on animal cruelty charges, and an arrest warrant is providing a complete look at exactly what investigators found on his property.
Roger Legrande Kervin, 66, was charged with 13 counts of felony cruelty to animals and 65 misdemeanor counts of confinement of animals without sufficient food, water or exercise. He is being held in the Escambia County Jail with bond set at $97,500.
Wednesday, Kervin spoke out in his own defense, saying that he had doing nothing wrong. Kervin said he keeps the dogs in good shape for wild hog hunting, often using the wild pork to feed people at charity events.
This was not the first time Kervin has faced animal abuse charges. According to court records, he was sentenced to probation in 1992 for using animals to bait or fight other animals.
Editor’s note: The following information, from the State Attorney’s Office arrest warrant affidavit, is graphic and may be disturbing to some readers.
Escambia County Animal Control seized 20 dogs on Tuesday, February 14. According to an affidavit, several of the dogs were emaciated while some displayed open sores and infections. Some of the dogs were aggressive and had puncture wounds and scarring. One of the dogs was in a seizure and was in need of immediate medical attention. Another suffered a ruptured anus.
The pen were the dogs were kept were filled with feces and mud that was several inches deep with limited to no shelter. The dogs had no potable water and no food. Several where tethered with “large” or “heavy” chains. Ten of the 20 dogs –both hounds, bulldogs and mixed breeds — that were seized Tuesday were euthanized.
The affidavit details the condition of each euthanized dog. In addition to being emaciated, one or more of the dogs suffered from conjunctivitis in both eyes, sores, infections, infected toenails and fly sores.
“Several of the dogs had puncture wounds and scarring consistent with fighting,” the arrest warrant states.
In addition to the seized dogs, Escambia County Animal Control found two dead goats, one dead hog and nine skeletal remains. Another 23 dogs on the premises were living in feces-covered pens with non-potable water, no food and limited to no shelter. There were 16 hogs kept in a pen with escape from their slop which contained feces, urine, food and mud. The hogs also had no drinking water and no food. There was, according to the report, a dead hog in the same pen as the live hog. There were 16 goats, five of which were at large on Lawson Lane. Some were malnourished and their pen had no grazing material.
When the State Attorney’s Office, Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and Escambia County Animal control returned on Wednesday with a search warrant, 23 dogs, 16 goats, 16 hogs and two piglets were seized. Authorities also seized treadmills and unspecified medications. The animals were in poor living conditions, but authorities noted that conditions had improved from the previous day. Fresh sand and dirt and been placed in all of the pens and shelters to cover the feces and mud. At least one standing pen had been washed out with a hose to remove feces from the bottom.
Pictured above and below: Roger Kervin’s property on Lawson Lane. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
36 Responses to “Man Arrested On 78 Animal Cruelty Charges: Report Offers Complete Details”
I want to share some info. That’s truely heartbreaking !!!!
There are children in foster care that can talk but do we get to hear their voices ??? No, does the media share their story ???? No, they are neglected & abused, in foster care, in state approved homes, adoption placement homes !!! But no the media doesn’t cover these stories !!!! This is the sad truth of our media, law enforcement, and dept of children & families !!! There’s an ongoing case of such abuse right now !
But have you seen or heard anything about it ??? No bc it’s gov. & st. Where’s the support & coverage on their wants and needs ??? These children have not been allowed any contact with previous family, friends, church members, or previous communities !!! Their rights have been ignored, & with no outside support !!! The past two adopted placement homes have resulted in arrest for neglect & creulty to a child !!! Where is the media & support for these children ??? Who is to suffer the conciquences of these actions … The children & their loved ones, that’s who !!! With no support from the dept. of children & families, the media, or anyone else !!! Truely heart breaking !!!
I want to share some info. That’s truely heartbreaking !!!!
There are children in foster care that can talk but do we get to hear their voices ??? No, does the media share their story ???? No, they are neglected & abused, in foster care, in state approved homes, adoption placement homes !!! But no the media doesn’t cover these stories !!!! This is the sad truth of our media, law enforcement, and dept of children & families !!! There’s an ongoing case of such abuse right now !
But have you seen or heard anything about it ??? No bc it’s gov. & st. Where’s the support & coverage on their wants and needs ??? These children have not been allowed any contact with previous family, friends, church members, or previous communities !!! Their rights have been ignored, & with no outside support !!! The past two adopted placement homes have resulted in arrest for neglect & creulty to a child !!! Where is the media & support for these children ??? Who is to suffer the conciquences of these actions … The children & their loved ones, that’s who !!! With no support from the dept. of children & families, the media, or anyone else !!! Truely heart breaking !!!
@Deep south survival You sound like a person who goes through life not seeing the forest for the trees.
Lord knows I can’t stand for a minute to see animals treated wrong, but what bothers me more is that there is more attention to this case than those of abused children.
If there were half as much attention paid to situations where children are being abused, sexually molested, and neglected, that is being focused on with animals, there would be many children saved from abuse.
Please don’t get me wrong, not for one minute am I saying that we should not care about the animals. I just think we should put just as much care into abused children as we do in abused animals,
It is amazing how Roger has been demonized. Most all of the allegations have been embellished by animal control. Let me put it to you this way. If you have a dog who has 1-2 ribs showing, or if your dog’s water dish has any algae in it, or if you use blue 55 gallon drums as dog houses, or if you put your dog on any type of tether, then you will be charged and your animals seized. Any one of those will land you in jail. Roger bought dog food by the pallet. There is still a 55 gallon drum, and 10+ bags of dog food there. There are 20+ empty bags left from recent use. The goats have one of those large round bails of hay under a roof, and a bathtub of water in their fence. There were only 5 bull dogs, the rest were baye dogs. The scars come from hunting hogs, and the occasional time that they get loose and fight each other. But that is the same thing that they trumped up on him back in 92. And it just so happens that the prosecuting attorney back then is the DA now. The animal remains they found were dug up from the back of the property, not strewn about as some would have you believe. Two of them were from friends of the family who wanted to bury their pets there so that they could come visit the graves. And if you hunt hogs, you know to look for wallows, hogs root and wallow, any hogs pinned up will do the same. They also had water, and a trough for food. There were a couple old dogs there that were at the end of their days, and anyone who has had a dog till they are geriatric knows, when dogs get really old, it is hard to keep their problems in check. Experienced dog owners know how resilient dogs can be, and nurture their animals back to health themselves. The animal control took meds from the scene, that were being used. Roger is not this monsterized demon that the media has made him out to be. He may be a hoarder, but no monster.
Finally, where is the dog that bit the person, and who is the person that was bit? No one involved knows any of that. Lawson is a private road, there is no one on that road that was bitten or has seen enough on the property to call animal control. This whole thing is tantamount to a person seeing your kid with a black eye and calling DCF on you for child abuse. Or catching you with a sink full of dishes in your house and claiming unsafe living conditions. Embellishment and character assassination.
@dan-o The tread mills are used to train dogs for fighting, it builds strength and stamina.Another training method is to tie a heavy chain with a tire or something heavy for the dog to lug around in order to make the dog strong.Now i know some will say the tread mills were used so the dogs could maintain their speed for hunting what ever prey their after.That is not true either.The animals that were found dead were on his property in different stages of decomposition,it seems to me that if he cared for the animals the way some claim he did he would have disposed of them properly. Some folks get a little upset when they see tax money being spent on something like this and think its even a waste of time by law enforcement.They need to remember the animals did not create this mess, a human did, and i would expect it will take a human to clean it up.The animals had no say in this matter and i would bet if they could have gotten away they would have.
@ dan-o The treadmills are used by people who either train dogs to fight or even fight dogs themselves,it builds the dogs just like human would train for strength and stamina.The dead animals were found about his property.A lot folks complain about the attention the animals are receiving they need to realize that the authorities are not cleaning up after the animals but cleaning up after a person,the animals did not have a choice in the matter but the person did, and made a wrong one at that.
“Authorities also seized treadmills”…Can anyone explain what this has to do with animal cruelty? Did he excercise some to death as well?
@animal lover I think u mess read something it does not say that there where dead animals in the pins. It said that they found two dead goats and a dead hog it does not say where they were found.
@Paul and everyone else taking up for this animal abuser, wow is about all I can say. He loved his animals so much and took such good care of them that the county had to come in and pay for putting some of them to sleep because they were is terrible condition and hurting so bad they had gone to far to be helped, not to menchine the ones he left in the pens dead with all the other animals, hmmm, something tells me he wont be sueing anyone but it is a shame that the animals he tortured can’t sue him ! I hope the charity people he was supposably feeding don’t get sick and die from the diseases I am sure these animals had ! Sick, sick, sick. Paul if you think that the county was wrong for putting the animals to sleep you should be ashames of yourself and instead be thankfull someone was able to do this for him since I am sure they would just have suffered to death like many of the others did before they were left in pens of filth to die and then just lay there, he could not even get the dead ones out ????? That is just sick, if he could not take care of them, take them to the vet, feed and water them every day and provide adequate shelter for them then he did not need them ! Thank GOD for our animal rescue folks and law enforcment having the guts and having a job to do what HE did NOT do. God bless those animals and bless the people that had to go in those conditions to rescue the other animals.
why have animals if you are just going to mistreat them?! god this makes me so sick!!! animal cruelty is just as bad as child neglect, only these poor animals cant speak up and ask for help!
This is a simple case…. ignorance, sloth, cruelty and neglect. Sometimes I think
some people have lived under a rock all their lives and never saw the SUN.
THIS is a SAD VIEW ON THE WEB OF THE SOUTH, AMERICA AND MANKIND.
I used to think it was just education that was lacking, but HOW COULD YOU WATCH SOMETHING THAT YOU CLAIMED TO LOVE……. STUGGLE TO LIVE
DAY AFTER DAY AND DO NOTHIING.
Hopefully he’s still moving to Alabama..
Time to put out the trash.
To all of these people who KNOW this man, all I can say is where were you when those animals were hungry and no water and had sores, and the one that had a ruptured anus? come on!! He may be a “good ole boy to you” but he was a monster in these animals eyes. And he was the reason so many were dead. ALSO… didn’t this say he was convicted of bating and fighting dogs previously?????????????? oh yea. he is just a good ole boy that has NO regard for an animals life. Someone needs to turn him out to chase those hogs. and someone needs to put him in a pen full of crap with a heavy chain. Then all of you who are sooooo supportive of him can go by the pen and tell him hey buddy, you are just a good ole boy.
This man needs to be punished for this and he should never be allowed to even be close to another animal. Not much difference in this to me than abusing a child.
Anyone that has that many dogs and does not feed and water them properly or take care of all of their needs. HE deserves to be treated the same way as the animals he claims he loves so much.
I am sorry but we own hunting dogs and some of the hunters think they should be kept thin to hunt them properly, this is a a falshood. (Oh and spaying and nutering them doesnt affect the way they hunt either) Our dogs have they’re own pens, dog house, food and water and access to a 2 acre run. They are I am embarassed to say, a bit overwieght but they love to hunt just as well as a skinny dog. I was told once when I had a hound my husband hunted that slept with us in the bed, that that “pup” wouldnt be worth a crap, well she was the best dog he ever had, the instinct to hunt is there regardless of socailization or basic care so treat your animals well, they depend on you for everything.
It doesn’t matter if he is a “good ol’boy” or not. Cruelty to animals is a crime . How about locking him up in a cell with no bathroom, no water or no food and see how he feels about what he did to the animals? You don’t find sick and dead animals in pens if they have proper care. “He did the best he could” is not an excuse for cruelty to animals. If they let him out he will do it again!
In responce to “double d”
“First off he hasn’t been accuesed of fighting dogs. Lori……. But he does have the money to get out…………. But as usual bunch of know it alls after seeing some pics from the news. Ray Charles can see what this is about…….”
And now the quote from the article on this page:
“This was not the first time Kervin has faced animal abuse charges. According to court records, he was sentenced to probation in 1992 for using animals to bait or fight other animals.”
Anyone that will let his dead animals lie in their own pen to rot and let the other hungry animals walk all over them and eat them is sickening. It is good there is someone that can and does come in and remove the animals to shelters for fresh food and water and better living conditions.
When I was a kid a neighbor kept 4 or 5 hunting dogs on a small lot down the street from his home. The lot was fenced and the kennels had shelters in the rear. He went down there twice a day and turned them loose on the lot while he hosed the kennels and refilled their food and water. Another neighbor also had hunting dogs. He kept their kennels at the rear of his property and they were always clean and the dogs always had food and water. I see nothing wrong with keeping hunting dogs as long as they’re well taken care of. What this man was doing boarded on animal hoarding and in my opinion the animals should be taken away and the owner charged.
First off he hasn’t been accuesed of fighting dogs. Lori……. But he does have the money to get out…………. But as usual bunch of know it alls after seeing some pics from the news. Ray Charles can see what this is about…….
HE WAS CHARGED ON BAITING, AND FIGHTING ANIMAL’S .
THEN HE GOT 6 YEAR’S PROBATION???????
THAT’S ALL. AND NO ONE CHECKED ON HIM, OR HIS PROPERTY???
WHAT WAS THE POINT OF ALL THIS???????
THE TIME AND MONEY SPENT ON HIM.
HE COMMITED A CRIME, AND THAT’S ALL HE GOT???
OH JUST LIKE MICHAEL VICK.
BUT HE ISN’T A FOOTBALL PLAYER, OR HAS ALOT OF MONEY.
AND NOW HE HS BEEN CAUGHT AGAIN???
AND THE PERSON WHO SAID THEY KNOW HIM, AND HE FEED’S HIS ANIMAL’S WELL??????
WHAT WERE THEY SEEING??????
AND NOW HE WILL BE PUT IN JAIL, AND WE WILL BE PAYING FOR HIM TO HAVE A NICE PLACE TO LIVE, AND FOOD.
HE SHOULD BE MADE TO CHASE, AND RUN AND GET HOG’S.
BUT THAT WOULD BE CRUEL.
IT WILL NEVER STOP.
We have an obligation to our animals. If you cannot feed or house them properly, do not own them. Can’t get them to a vet, don’t need them. Having that many dogs borders insane. Bet their names were 1,2,3, ect… He may have meant well, but the animals deserve better. Hoarding maybe. Hope he gets a plea deal. All the meth cooks do.
I know know Roger and I know he feeds his dogs more than most of you so called animal lovers… hog dog love to run that’s why they ain’t fat. My hope is that he wins and sues this county and the people that trespassed and stole his animals and then the murders of 7 of his dogs should gassed like the dogs
To Kris Mart….
I agree. I believe you can hold wild hogs but can not transport them.
If the owner keeps loosing his dogs in “hunts”, and they are going from good health to poor health while lost (and who knows what they killed while roaming)it’s not right for the dogs to be owned by an irresponsible owner! “got the best care they could get” does that mean what the family could afford? The way his dogs were cared for was his M O… it’s not an excuse. You can be a hunter with one or two dogs and be more responsible and even sucessful. With the numbers he had he had better had a license to breed or sell dogs it would seem. Wild Hogs? if they are caged…is that legal. Goats for what? I’d like to see how much hog meat this family donated
I suspect they are lazy and left lots of animals for dead…what they tracked all night was probably a dog worth some money to them.
1992 seemed to be a bad year for Mr. Kervin. Animal cruelty charges among others that year. So you all are probably right they are just out to get him. And as for the dogs being lost, I probably would have got out of there too.
Iv known this man for over ten years he is just a good ole country boy thay need to leave that man alone
@ Deep South Survival ~ nice people do not jam dogs in tiny pens without proper shelter and clean water. That is illegal in FL. What Kervin used the dogs for is irrelevant.
@ Malynda ~ yes, they can legally charge him with 78 counts: 13 Felonies and 65 Misdemeanors. There were a lot of animals without shelter and water and some were DYING. THAT is not right.
To Deep South Survival – He would do anything for them but feed them. I’m sure everyone with ESCO stopped working murder and drug cases to arrest him. 50 dogs a bit much.
I personally know The Kervins, and they are nice people. This is a case of vindictive animal control agents, and others with an agenda. Mr. Kervin loved his dogs, and would do anything for them. Most all of his dogs are hunting dogs, and sometimes became injured or lost during hunting. It was nothing for them to stay out till daybreak looking for lost dogs. And when one got hurt, they got the best care they could. This is ridiculous, how many shootings are unsolved in ESCO? With all the drug problems in ESCO, they are going to bother Mr. Kervin. Good man, good people. You are being mislead.
It’s not “either” “or”. You don’t have to choose between locking up murderers and rapist and letting animal abusers go free or vice versa.
Animals are not inanimate objects. If you can’t or won’t take proper care of them don’t have them. Neglecting those in your care, including animals, says a lot about ones character, or lack thereof.
I agree with Mom, lock up the people that are cruel to animals!!! Let the murderers, rapists and thieves go free so we will have plenty of room. Confiscate all the poor innocent animals and put them in shelters and humanely gas them when they aren’t adopted. Ohhhh maybe Mom will go down and adopt some of the poor innocent animals.
Oh wow what r u proving now..
I agree with Mom that if you don’t like animals don’t keep them and let them go hungry.
I want to no, if the first day they took the 7 animals they claimed to be in bad health, out of 97 animals ! Those animals had been lost in the woods for the past few wks, for almost a month Mr. Roger Kervin had been going out searching for them daily, that’s why they were in such bad shape ! The other animals were of good health ! Does that give them the right to take all of his animals ??? Should they be able to charge him with 97 counts of animal cruelty ??? This does not sound right & should not be legal ! Thanks to those of you who no the truth & are being of support ! Rights right & wrong is wrong, we are not about animal cruelty !!!!
WHAT IN THE HECK IS ALL OF THIS ANIMAL CRUELTY CRAP ALL OF A SUDDEN??? IT AMAZES ME THE MEANESS AND STUPIDITY OF PEOPLE. ANIMALS ARE WONDERFUL AND LOVING CREATURES THAT GIVE BACK TO YOU…I JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND. LOCK THEM UP AND NEVER GIVE THEM ANOTHER ANIMAL, GIVE THEM TO PEOPLE WHO CARE!