Alleged Illegal Slaughter Farm Operator Facing 30 Charges
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DORAL (CBSMiami) – The alleged operator of an illegal Doral slaughter farm appeared in bond court on Friday, facing 30 charges for "committing atrocious acts against animals."
Miami-Dade Police said goats, cows, chickens and animals of all types police say were butchered and boiled alive, then sold to paying customers.
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The Animal Rescue Mission's Richard Couto led the police to Coco Farm, a killing field near the Florida Turnpike at 41st Street on the edge of Doral, after shooting undercover video.
"This was a horrific, torturous operation," said Couto. "Skinning animals alive, drowning animals in boiling water, they were actually twisting the heads off of goats."
But business boomed over the Christmas and New Year's holidays.
Customers reportedly even brought their children to watch the Noche Buena pig get stabbed through the heart.
Operator Gregorio Santa Ana said he's been in business for 25 years.
Farm hand Jose Solis, an allegedly lower level ogre, still faces felony charges.
Brutality at this property went on within a stone's throw of subdivisions.
"Right under our nose, it's medieval behavior. You can see in the eyes of these animals the misery, the torture that they went through," said Alfredo Ramirez with the Miami-Dade Police Department.
Couto also said some of the acts were so heinous that some of the things he saw had "never seen before."
Investigators are still hunting a third suspect, a co-owner of the operation.
Of the several thousand animals found at the farm, most will be taken in by various rescue missions.
Several hundred of the animals are in such bad shape they will have to be euthanized.
Those charged in this operation are looking at hard time in prison if convicted.
