Pasco detention deputy charged with animal cruelty

RUSKIN, Fla. (FOX 13) - A Pasco County detention deputy faces animal cruelty charges after multiple horses were found in "very poor health" without food or water in Ruskin.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office received a complaint about animal neglect at a property in the 4000 block of 27 Street SE on Thursday.

Deputies found five fully grown horses confined to a small area on the property.

According to investigators, the owner of the horses is 27-year-old Raven Krystle Devoss, a detention deputy in Pasco County.

"The horses were observed to be in very poor health due to malnutrition," HCSO said in a statement. "Several open sores were also observed on the horses due to poor care from the owner."

The area where the horses were kept had no food, water or shelter, deputies said. The space was also cluttered with trash and debris, "potentially posing harm of entanglement by loose barbed wire and other material," the sheriff's office said.

Deputies arrested Devoss and charged her with five counts of unlawful confinement or abandonment of an animal, as well as five counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty.

Following her arrest Thursday, the Pasco County Sheriff's Office dismissed Devoss, noting she was still within her probationary period. Devoss had been hired July 30, 2018.