OCSEOLA County, Fla. (WFLA) — A Florida man who pleaded guilty to animal cruelty in Florida concludes with a Florida man who said he said he had said Friday.
Kelvin E. Soto, the former holder of a license to display and sell reptiles, filed a guilty plea on August 14th. The FWC said it began an investigation in November 2023 after Soto stopped paying for its Osceola County storage units.
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The units were trapped and only discovered catastrophic scenes inside when company employees began preparing units for auction.
According to the FWC, there were 111 African fat-tailed geckos in individual containers within the storage unit. Forty-one geckos were already dead. Photos provided by the FWC show ruins of several skeletal structures of the reptile.
Investigators said the container was filthy and none of the geckos had any food or water. Authorities later determined that no one had visited the storage unit for more than two months.
A warrant was issued for Soto’s arrest after detectives linked him to a crime. He is located in Virginia and was eventually arrested by local authorities before being brought back to Florida for prosecutors.
The FWC said Soto admitted his guilt after entering a legal agreement this week. His sentence includes four years of supervised probation, 100 hours of community service and more than $5,000 recovery to facilities that cared for surviving reptiles during almost two years of prosecution.
Soto was also prohibited from possessing or contacting animals and was ordered to confiscate the remaining gecko in his care.
“This case is a powerful example of the daily work our prisoner of war wildlife investigators do,” said Major John Wilke, leader of the FWC’s Captor Wildlife Section. “Their dedication, thoroughness and tenacity ensured accountability for the abuse of these animals and the justice of those who survived.”
Anyone who knows of a wildlife violation is asked to report by calling the FWC Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-3922 or submitting tips online at myfwc.com/wildlifealert.
