For years, Thomas Todd and his wife have listened to dogs barking behind a fence next to their Martin County home, and they say what they've smelled coming from that property worries them even more than what they've heard. Todd believes there are between 15 and 20 dogs living there, and he wants them removed and, in his words, saved.
Martin County Animal Control and sheriff's deputies have visited the home at least 11 times since 2020 over concerns about the dogs and their owner, according to WPTV. One incident report from 2020 described as many as 25 dogs inside the home. Todd told the station he's noticed a combination of garbage, animal feces and urine coming from next door, and he raised his concerns publicly in May at a WPTV Let's Hear It event in Jensen Beach.
The trouble, as Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek describes it, is that the law only allows deputies to act on what they can actually see. The owner put up a fence after a 2023 code enforcement visit, and that fence, according to the station's report, prevents authorities from seeing into the property. Budensiek said the fence has created a legal barrier to further investigation, and the owner has since stopped allowing law enforcement inside the home.
What Deputies Have and Haven't Seen
Before the fence went up, a Martin County code enforcement officer photographed a dog with feces on it through the home's glass front door in 2023, per the same account. Authorities have also observed feces on the floor and furniture during past visits, and deputies noted empty food boxes outside the property as recently as the week before the story published. But under Florida law, deputies can't force their way in without visible evidence of mistreatment, consent, or a warrant grounded in probable cause under Fourth Amendment jurisprudence and Florida Statute Chapter 933.
That distinction matters because Florida Statute § 828.13 sets a specific bar for criminal confinement charges: an owner must be shown to have withheld sufficient food and water, denied wholesome exercise or ventilation, or abandoned a sick animal, according to The Florida Senate. Budensiek said the statutory food-and-water standard appears to be met based on what deputies can currently observe, and that the animals appear to be cared for from outside the property based on deputies' observations. He added that his office will continue responding to complaints and will obtain a search warrant if visible evidence shows the dogs are being mistreated, malnourished or not cared for.
Conflicting Accounts From the Owner
Records reviewed by the station show the owner has repeatedly told authorities she has fewer dogs than neighbors believe. She told animal control she had rehomed some of the dogs, and cleaned up the property after initial visits from authorities. In the most recent incident report, from July 2025, she told deputies she had seven dogs, then later said she had only five. Todd said he does not believe that number, and he told the station he continues to hear dogs barking inside the house and that the owner stopped letting them outside.
The owner has not been charged with a crime, and sheriff's deputies have not entered her home. She did not respond to phone calls from the WPTV reporter, who left three voicemails seeking comment. Budensiek offered a blunt summary of the legal reality facing frustrated neighbors: being a bad neighbor is not illegal.
A County Already Stretched Thin
The case lands in a county still absorbing the fallout from what Budensiek called the worst animal hoarding case in Martin County history, in which authorities and the Humane Society of the Treasure Coast rescued 108 dogs and cats from a Stuart home this summer, as reported by The Cool Down. Hoodline previously covered a related case involving a Martin County postal worker accused of hoarding dozens of animals. The Humane Society of the Treasure Coast, founded in 1955, is the county's only open-access, no-kill shelter and serves as the designated holding facility for animals impounded by county animal control, according to its own account of its operations.
The Martin County Sheriff's Office Animal Services Unit oversees more than 30,000 registered pets countywide, per the agency, enforcing both county ordinances and state cruelty statutes across unincorporated areas and municipalities alike. Florida also toughened its animal cruelty framework this year: Dexter's Law took full effect on January 1, creating a statewide public abuser registry maintained by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and adding a 1.25 sentencing multiplier for aggravated cruelty convictions, according to Action News Jax. Aggravated cruelty under Florida Statute § 828.12 is a third-degree felony carrying up to five years in prison, but it requires proof of intentional infliction of pain or suffering, a far higher bar than the misdemeanor neglect standard investigators are weighing next door.
What Recourse Remains for Neighbors
Short of criminal charges, Martin County residents have another option: filing a formal Affidavit of Complaint with Martin County Animal Control under county ordinance to pursue civil enforcement against barking, odor, or other animal nuisances. That process runs separately from any sheriff's office criminal investigation and doesn't require the same evidentiary threshold deputies face when seeking a warrant. For now, animal control has been seen in front of the owner's house a few times since the story first drew attention, and the Todds say they'll keep listening, keep complaining, and keep hoping someone eventually gets a look over that fence.
