Photo: CBS 12
A Palm Beach County man is charged with possessing illegal horse meat after it was found in his home.
39-year old Lazaro Rodriguez was arrested after deputies served a search warrant, while looking for stolen property. Instead, they found the horse meat defrosting in a refrigerator.
Richard Couto, founder of the Animal Recovery Mission, says this is a sign of a disturbing trend.
“People waking up going to their barns to feed their horses in the morning and their horses are in a thousand pieces with all of the quote-unquote edible meat missing from their bodies.”
He tells CBS 12 News that around 30,000 horses are sold on the black market in the state every year.
"These people’s horses are stolen on a daily basis in South Florida. They're never returned, they're never found. Why? Because they're very quickly butchered and sold for their meat. It’s a real problem,”
Back in 2015, Couto helped deputies raid three illegal slaughterhouses in Palm Beach County.
Rodriguez is charged with felony possession of illegal horse meat, which carries a minimum of one to five years in prison.