DAVIE, Fla. — Robert Lee Hoover, the owner of Family Farm in Davie, walked out of Broward County jail on Friday in Fort Lauderdale, facing 16 animal cruelty charges.
“We feed them,” Hoover said. “We have vet bills. We have food. We take care of our animals. We have a white cow that was skinny. That’s a rescue.”
Authorities said they’ve received numerous complaints about animal welfare at the farm, located at 14950 SW 14th St. and owned by Hoover, directly or through entities like Broward Crime Stoppers.
Davie police officers executed a search warrant at the farm on Thursday and took Hoover, 51, into custody. Officials confiscated the animals.
“There was a trailer there and they were loading up all the livestock,” nearby resident Deirdre Brodey said.
An arrest report states that officers searching the facility found, among other things, emaciated cows which appeared to be fed only if visitors bought food for them, a pig so severely sunburned that parts of its skin were “raw and bloody” and a “thin” horse with an eye injury.
“Hoover was unable to provide any veterinarian records for any of the animals on the property and when examined, they all needed some sort of care from a veterinarian,” Davie Police Department Officer Daniel Broder wrote in the report. “The search of his property did not reveal any veterinarian documents.”
Police said they spoke to a woman “who has been employed by Family Farms for two weeks but has been coming to the farm to feed the animals for eight months.”
The report states that she told investigators that “she does not see hay placed in the animal enclosures on a daily basis” and described one of the cows as “lethargic” when she tried feeding it.
“(The worker) said she usually feeds the animals what Hoover has available to feed the animals, which is carrots, corn on the cobb (sic) and lettuce,” Broder wrote. “This is also the food that patrons can buy when the business is open so they can feed the animals.”
Broder wrote that it was “the only food available to the animals on the property. This food is an inadequate source of nutrition for the animals.”
Hoover appeared in Broward County court on Friday.
His attorney had argued that he had been wrongfully accused in the past and that cases had been dismissed. He said the reports were made by someone with a personal vendetta against Hoover or by people who don’t understand farm living.
“Someone living in the suburbs (who) lives in a $2 million home in a gated community probably has no idea exactly how a farm operates,” Hoover’s attorney said. “I have been to the farm dozens of times and I know what length he takes to take care of his animals and make sure they have what they need.”
A judge, however, found probable cause for the 16 charges and ordered Hoover to have no possession, contact, or use of domestic or farm animals.
“They found that there were certainly issues that supported the allegations,” the judge said.
Records show Hoover was being held in the Broward Main Jail on a $28,500 bond.
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