When deputies responded to an anonymous tip about a dog being choked to death, they found one pit bull dead and another severely injured.
Though Teron Nairn assured deputies his two pit bulls were fine — other than one being roughed up during an earlier fight — it wasn’t until they searched his garage that they found a third dog dead and concealed under a car in the garage.
Nairn, 33, faces charges of animal cruelty. He was released from the Palm Beach County jail Thursday on $3,000 bail.
On Jan. 19, Nairn let the deputies into his home.
Two female pit bulls, Candy and Deba, were found inside. Deputies noted that Deba, a 6-year-old, gray-and-white pit bull, had one eye swollen shut and the other red and leaking fluid.
Nairn said the two dogs were in fights the day before but he couldn’t afford to take Deba to a veterinarian. In a later interview, he said he beat her to break up the fight, according to the sheriff's office. A veterinarian report later revealed fractures to the bones in her face, bruising, and general signs of neglect like long nails and thinning fur.
When deputies searched the garage where they had heard noise earlier, they found a dead pit bull underneath a car covered with a tarp, according to the report.
Nairn explained Bolo, a male pit bull, choked himself to death because he got too excited and wrapped himself in his choker chain. When interviewed a week later, he said he became scared when the deputies came to his home, so he hid the dog, according to the report.
The injured female dog and dead dog were turned over to Animal Care and Control.
Though the cause of death came back as inconclusive, there were external wounds on the dog’s neck. Because of the results, Nairn was not arrested for Bolo’s death. He was arrested for Deba’s injuries, according to the sheriff's office.
Nairn has not been arrested in the past decade, but was previously arrested for marijuana possession and criminal mischief, according to county records.
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