Man arrested for animal abuse

A 39-year-old Marathon man was arrested Thursday afternoon for leaving a dog in hot pickup truck for two days without food or water.

David Ray Varie was charged with abandonment of an animal and possession of marijuana.

Deputies Michael Maleta and Vincent Torres were called to the Publix, 5407 Overseas Highway, in Marathon, at 1 p.m. regarding a dog in the back of a covered truck. They arrived to find a black dog in the covered bed of a Dodge Ram 1500. The truck was not running and the window to the bed cover was only open about two inches. Deputy Maleta noted the truck was very hot to the touch. There was neither food nor water for the dog. The dog was let out of the truck. The dog was hot to the touch and panting heavily. It then urinated for about 20 seconds.

An animal control agent took temperature readings that showed it was between 87 and 102 degrees in the truck where the dog had been. Animal Control took possession of the dog.

Varie then approached Deputy Maleta and he told him the truck and the dog were his. Varie told Deputy Maleta the apartment where he is living about a quarter mile away does not allow dogs. Deputy Maleta told Varie it was hot inside the truck and the dog should not have been kept inside. Varie said the dog had been inside the truck for two days, but his teenage son was coming to let the dog out a couple of times a day.

Varie was arrested. A marijuana cigarette was found in his possession.

He was taken to the Monroe County Detention Center on Stock Island.

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