Animals are inhumanely handled, dragged, choked, and killed in front of other animals.
In May of 2023, ARM investigators pursued a lead after discovering a post on Craigslist advertising ‘live animals and meat for sale’ at two connected rural properties located in Ft. Pierce, Florida, lending to suspicions of organized criminal activity.
What followed was a covert operation where ARM gathered shocking, incriminating evidence of animals being traded and brutally butchered alive, without being rendered insensible to pain, prior to butchering. This is a federal crime in accordance of The Humane Slaughter ACT.
Some of the most violent acts caught on undercover cameras included pigs being pinned down and stabbed in the heart, and screaming goats being dragged by their hind legs and then strung upside down before skinning and harvesting their flesh. All while still conscious.
During ARM’s investigation of the illegal animal slaughter farm, animals were consistently documented living in barren and desolate conditions and often seen without clean drinking water, showed signs of illness and disease, and are being bred and raised to be slaughtered and sold to customers for human consumption.
ARM’s evidence also unveiled animal fighting and ritualistic sacrifice activities.
A sample of major crimes witnessed by ARM investigators include:
- Goats, sheep, and pigs are stabbed repeatedly in the throat and chest with foot-long blades while screaming and thrusting, displaying clear signs of life.
- Animals are conscious and aware as they are hoisted, skinned, and butchered.
- Waterboarding live animals.
- Throwing and slamming live animals.
- Dogs bite and torment restrained animals awaiting slaughter.
- Animals are in poor health, emaciated, suffering from debilitating parasites, and untreated wounds. No vet care is provided.
- Animals are butchered in unsanitary, illegal, open-air butcher areas, allowing the meat to be exposed and susceptible to disease and contamination – a serious human health violation and risk of contagious disease.
- Zoning codes are being grossly violated.
- Sale of unadulterated meat.
Besides the long list of crimes against animals, ARM documented blood from slaughtered animals pooling and seeping into the ground around the butcher area. Dead animals and body parts are also being illegally buried, burned, and disposed of in the trash and throughout the property, endangering the community’s public water supply and implicating severe environmental violations.
This illegal animal slaughter farm is operating without any license, insurance, or regulation with the USDA, putting consumers of the animals or ‘meat’ at grave risk to their health.
ARM has identified the operation being run by a husband-and-wife team, as well as workers who all participated and are guilty of the crimes listed in the detailed report of this investigation.
Evidence was submitted to the Ft. Pierce Sheriff’s Department and a multi-task agency raid was executed on February 14th, 2024 where Miguel Cabrera – The Butcher, was arrested and charged with two felony counts of animal cruelty resulting in death.
Cabrera pled not guilty and is pending trial.
Cabrera’s accomplice, Ysairis Gonzalez, was apprehended on January, 29th, 2024 following a warrant out for her arrest since the raid. Gonzalez was charged for two charges of animal cruelty – torture with a $30,000 bail.
ARM seized over 100 animals as a result of the raid who are being rehabilitated at ARM Sanctuary.
On January, 28th, 2025, Cabrera and Gonzalez appeared in front of a Circuit Judge Michael Heisey for a sentencing hearing. Cabrera was ordered to serve 30 days in the St Lucie County Jail followed by three years of probation and is now a convicted felon. Gonzalez was sentenced to three years of probation.
To watch the news story following the sentence hearing CLICK HERE.
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Undercover Footage
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