POLK COUNTY, Fla. – A Winter Haven woman was arrested Thursday after investigators found dead and dying animals scattered across a trash-covered yard, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
Melissa McKinney, 59, faces several charges including felony animal cruelty and running an unpermitted dump site at her home on Logan Lane.
The case started earlier in the week when county animal control officers and state environmental officials went out to check on reports of sick animals and a potential chemical leak. Once Department of Environmental Protection workers saw dead animals and grew suspicious of what was happening on the property, they called in sheriff’s detectives…