The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office confirmed it is assisting in the investigation.
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The investigations were called “Operation: Rancho Garcia”, “Operation: G.A. Paso Fino” and “Operation Medina Farm”. A 2010 Florida law made slaughtering horses and selling the meat for human consumption a felony.
A CBS12 viewer said she noticed a large presence of Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputies outside a pig farm on Orange Avenue in Loxahatchee. For his part, Garcia told the news station that his neighbors were making up stories.
“They are insincere. Whoever is fore warning you these items must also seek advice from me have to deal with to effectively face”, Garcia said during.
In addition to selling horsemeat, the videos show animals at the farms being shot, slaughtered, tortured and boiled.
There are also detailed accounts of severe animal cruelty, authorities say. Garcia also sold animals for black magic and sacrificial ceremonies.
The second raid was nicknamed “Operation: G.A Paso Fino” and it was conducted at two co-joined businesses on a piece of property owned by Orlando Guzman. Authorities say agents witnessed and documented Media Farm employees slitting goats’ necks while they are restrained on their backs and forced to suffocate in their own blood. Investigators from the Animal Recovery Mission (ARM) witnessed and videoed footage of Garcia inhumanely slaughtering horses, pigs, goats and ducks by stabbing them in their hearts, boiling them alive and kicking and beating them while they languished in agony hanging by their legs.
Lee County said it is assisting with the transportation and recovery of multiple animals which were seized.
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ARM says that all three farms are being raided on Tuesday and are being permanently shut down.
