He starved and caged his dog, cops say. He’s now in a Manatee County jail cell

Victor McQueen is in the Manatee County jail facing felony aggravated animal cruelty charges after deputies say he starved one of his dogs to the point it could not be saved.

According to the arrest report, McQueen, 56, resided at 1027 61st St. E. in Bradenton at the time of the incident, which occurred in June 2018. McQueen has been wanted for the charge ever since and a warrant for his arrest was issued in September.

The sheriff’s office highlighted his wanted information in April on its Twitter account. Deputies caught up to McQueen on Wednesday.

According to the arrest report, Manatee County Animal Services responded to McQueen’s listed address last year and observed four dogs being caged in dilapidated wooden boxes in the rear of the residence.

All four dogs were seized and one had to be rushed into emergency medical care. That dog — described in the report as a black-and-white mixed breed — had to be euthanized because of the severity of its condition.

A necropsy was conducted, which showed the dog’s stomach contained leaves and wood chips, an indication that it was trying to eat what it could to survive. However, the dog’s stomach also had a large amount of undigested dog food, as though someone tried to feed it a large amount of food while it was already malnourished.

A veterinarian described the condition as “re-feeding syndrome. This typically occurs when a malnourished animal is suddenly fed a large quantity of food,” according to the report.

“The animal in addition to being malnourished, suffered from severe intestinal parasitism, anemia, dermatitis and dental disease,” the report states.

McQueen was interviewed in July 2018 and deputies say he admitted to having care and custody of the dogs for approximately two months, but denied ownership of the animals.

However, deputies note that McQueen could not provide the name of the owner and his story grew inconsistent.

“McQueen was the person responsible for the care of the animals and his lack of care caused unnecessary suffering and ultimately led to the euthanization” of the dog, the deputy wrote.

According to jail records, McQueen’s law enforcement encounters in Manatee County date to 2005. Prior arrests include the sale of crack cocaine, burglary and resisting arrest with violence.