A man with a years-long history of animal abuse allegations was arrested Friday after 10 horses were found in a “deplorable” state on his property in rural Palm Beach County, the Sheriff’s Office said.
James Marinakis, 74, kept the herd at his properties west of Boca Raton in the area of 200th Street South, according to court records in a civil case filed Nov. 6. The horses ranged from 4 years old to more than 20 years old, and eight of the 10 were determined to be in especially poor condition, the county’s petition in the case said.
On Oct. 18, Palm Beach County Division of Animal Care and Control received an anonymous complaint from someone after seeing underweight horses on Marinakis’s property. PBSO deputies obtained a warrant and searched the home on Oct. 29, finding pastures without adequate shelter, little grass for grazing and an “excessive amounts of feces,” the civil petition said.
Many of the horses were thin, unable to move normally and suffered from moderate to severe “rain rot,” a skin infection, according to the petition. A 4-year-old white and brown leopard Appaloosa stallion had “a large mass on his leg that was infested with maggots.”
One of the malnourished horses found on the west Boca Raton property of James Marinakis. (Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office/Courtesy)
Animal control took the horses from the home and started medical treatment, according to the petition.
Veterinarians determined that all eight were malnourished and dehydrated, suffered untreated injuries, had overgrown hooves, rain rot and dental disease, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Friday, “consistent with long-term neglect.”
A judge scheduled a hearing in the civil case for Dec. 5 to determine what will happen with the horses, to reimburse the county for the costs of caring for them and to possibly prohibit Marinakis from owning any animals in the future, according to the petition.
Marinakis faces eight counts of animal cruelty and neglect, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Marinakis has been issued numerous animal infractions involving horses and dogs dating back to at least 1999, county court records show. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of cruelty to animals and abandonment of animals in 2004.
In 2014, Marinakis was overseeing a horse breeding farm at the rural property with nearly 70 horses, court records show. Three mares and a foal were removed from his care that year after they were found to be in similar conditions as the horses confiscated recently.
James Marinakis was arrested on Friday, Nov. 21, on eight counts of animal cruelty and neglect after 10 horses in “deplorable” conditions were found at his west Boca Raton property, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said. (Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office/Courtesy)
Two of the four horses removed at the time were the subjects of an animal control investigation in 2013, according to a final judgment order in the 2014 case.
Marinakis, who testified at the time that he was a homeopathic medicine doctor, maintained that the four confiscated horses were in poor conditions because of a pre-existing medical condition, but his opinion wasn’t corroborated by any veterinarians who examined them, according to the order.
“Undoubtedly, (Marinakis) is a highly intelligent and knowledgeable person regarding equine physiology, but for reasons that are unclear, he stubbornly and consistently refuses to follow proper protocol to the detriment of the horses entrusted to his care,” the judge wrote in the 2014 final order.
The court ruled that animal control officers would conduct unannounced visits at his property for the next three years to ensure that all animals there were being properly cared for, according to the order.
Prior to the civil case filed earlier this month, the last animal infraction against Marinakis was filed in 2015 for failing to comply with livestock requirements after a chestnut stallion was found “loose on a public dirt road,” according to the citation.
