TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — The Leon County Sheriff's office is investigating a report of animal cruelty in east Leon County.
LCSO says 64-year-old Marion Harmon has been taken into custody and investigators are currently on the scene on Capitola Road.
LCSO said Harmon has been charged with 57 charges.
Those charges include:
34 counts of aggravated animal cruelty
7 counts of animal cruelty, and
16 counts of unlawful disposal of dead animal
According to the sheriff's office, someone saw what they thought was an animal carcass on a man's property. When deputies arrived, they found several animals malnourished and emaciated.
LCSO says several carcasses have been found on the property and around 150 animals are being relocated.
Leon County Sheriff’s office is currently on scene of a farm in Tallahassee that’s being investigated for multiple animal abuse charges. Several carcasses have been found on the property and around 150 animals are being relocated @abc27 pic.twitter.com/mK6EZpVC6W
— Micah Cho (@MicahChoWTXL) June 8, 2021
Triple R Rescue, one of the farms taking in the animals, said a lot of the animals will be up for adoption once they are rehabilitated, although it could take a while before that happens since the animals need to be cleared to be adopted through the courts.
According to the Florida A&M University Office of Human Resources, Harmon was employed as a nine-month employee as an assistant visiting professor within the Department of Computer Information Systems until the end of the spring 2021 semester. FAMU said he is currently employed on an OPS contract that was scheduled to end with the close of the C term on August 2.
Harmon does not have a signed contract to teach this fall. He retired in August 2019 and was re-hired in August 2020.
Tallahassee Community College Communications Department said Harmon “previously worked for TCC as adjunct/part-time math/computer programming professor" from July 1996 to December 2006.
Harmon's first court appearance is scheduled for Wednesday, June 9 at 11 a.m.
The Leon County Humane Society said many people have reached out asking how to help with the recent animal cruelty case in which over 200 farm animals including pigs, sheep, cows, donkeys, chickens, ducks, and a horse were rescued.
LCHS was notified by Leon County Animal Control that Country Feed Store & Garden Supply is accepting donations of food for those animals removed from the property.
