Two Arrested By Brevard Sheriff’s Agents for Aggravated Animal Cruelty After Starving Dog Nearly to Death

Tara Survives Horrific Abuse; Sheriff Ivey Says Suspects are “Exactly Where You Belong”

BREVARD COUNTY  SHERIFF WAYNE IVEY: A few weeks ago, you may have seen a post about Tara – her abusers, Heather Ballentine and James Preston – were brought to justice. See the video audio transcription below.

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Hello, everyone. I’m Sheriff Wayne Ivey of the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office. And, you know, usually when we arrest somebody for animal abuse, I personally walk him into jail.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t walk James Preston and Heather Ballantyne into jail because our team had them picked up before I could get there. But that’s okay. Getting them to jail was a lot more important than my being able to personally walk them in there.

And I’ll tell you why. They adopted a dog named Tara from us. And Tara was adopted by James Preston and given to James Preston. And trusted to take care of. When Tara was adopted, they knew that Tara needed a little bit of medication. They said, ‘No problem, we’re going to take care of Tara.’ Well, guess what?

They didn’t. In fact, they almost let Tara starve to death. Basically, what happened is that after they let Tara almost starve to death, you’re seeing some of the pictures. They’re disgusting. What these people did with Tara. After they let Tara almost starve to death, then they gave it to their grandmother.

And said, ‘Yeah, there’s something wrong with the dog. You can have it.’ Well, thankfully, a family member recognized that not only was something wrong with the dog, but also with them for not helping this poor boy. That is because they did nothing. They let this dog starve almost to death. Our vet, Dr. Lesser, said that on the health scale of one to nine, Tara was a one. Folks, that’s disgusting. And here’s the worst part.

Not only was Tara in that kind of shape, but what they said when they were interviewed by Agent Helbig was that Tara would eat and then immediately throw up. And they just thought something was wrong with it. So Tara went without food and was kept in a crate because if Get out of the crate. Tara couldn’t control her bowels.

Well, guess what? Of course, Tara couldn’t control her bowels because Tara was starving to death and her body was shutting down, while you two idiots are letting it happen and doing nothing to stop it.

In fact, not only doing nothing to stop it, but also ignoring it. Thankfully, the family member called us. Our animal enforcement officer rescued Tara, took her to our partners at the Animal Emergency and Specialty Hospital in Rockledge, and we were able to save her life.

Tara is now with our vet team. I had a chance to see Tara the other day. Tara is slowly and gradually gaining weight and getting back to the normal life that Tara should have always had.

But in the meantime, James Preston and Heather Ballantyne went to jail for one count of felony aggravated animal cruelty and one count of unlawful confinement. And let me tell you, that’s not enough.

What is happening to them with these charges is not enough. They need to sit in jail. They need to sit in a cage because maybe they can’t control their bowels. Well, guess what? It wasn’t the dog that couldn’t control his bowels. It was because you couldn’t control yourself and stop being an idiot. And that is why your butt is locked up and put behind bars.

Great job by our animal enforcement officers. Great job by Agent Hellbig in working this case. Brother, I don’t know how you do it. You see some sad stuff out there. But every day you come to work and you have the energy to go out and be the voice for these animals that have no voice. Thank you.

Thank you to our team. Thank you to the units that picked up Preston and Ballantyne. And guess what? Sitting in Brevard County Jail, that’s exactly where you belong.

– Sheriff Wayne Ivey

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