BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Monitor Editor
LAKE BUTLER—Dustin Reddish, 29, and Troy Travis Starling, 49, both of Lake Butler pleaded to charges related to their part in a four-year-old case of bear abuse in the Ocala National Forest and other areas.
Both men pleaded to conspiracy to commit a RICO Act violation. Reddish also pleaded to three counts of felony cruelty to animals, felony littering, unlawful use of a two-way communications device, unlawful taking of a black bear and using an animal to fight or bait another animal.
Circuit Judge Anthony Tatti sentenced Reddish to 180 days in jail and five years’ probation. Starling was sentenced to five years’ probation.
During a Tuesday, July 5 hearing in Ocala, Tatti also ordered both men to pay $22,847 to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission and $4,688.43 to the Statewide Prosecutor’s Office for investigative costs.
9 people prosecuted, 4 from Lake Butler
The pleadings represent the final two for the case in which a total of nine people were arrested.
William Edward Landrum of Millboro, Virginia pleaded guilty on March 25 to animal cruelty and will serve 5 years’ probation.
In 2020 Haley Anders of Lake Butler pleaded guilty to similar charges and agreed to testify against eight co-defendants, including her ex-husband, Dustin Reddish.
Anders was sentenced to between 18 months and 4 years in prison. Also pleading guilty with promises to help prosecutors were Christopher Elliot Haun of Ormond Beach who was sentenced to 8 years’ probation, Charles “Buddy” Luther Scarbrough III of Callahan who will be sentenced to between 5 years’ probation and 5 years in prison and Hannah Scarbrough of Callahan who was sentenced to 5 years’ probation. William Tyler Wood, 32, of Lake Butler was sentenced to one year in prison and 10 years’ probation. Mark Christopher Lindsey, 29, of Moultrie, Georgia, was sentenced to 270 days in jail and eight years’ probation.
Lured bears with doughnuts, sent packs of dogs to attack
According to a news release by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the defendants lured black bears by placing drums of dog food, doughnuts, pastries and peanut butter in various areas throughout Baker, Flagler, Marion and Union counties. The defendants then used large packs of dogs to chase and maul the black bears.
“After some of the attacks, the defendants posted numerous videos of the acts on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat,” the agency said in the news release. “None of the individuals involved tried to call off the dogs or stop the attack on the bears. The Office of Statewide Prosecution obtained warrants for the social media accounts where the defendants posted videos of the attacks.”
According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by an Orlando television station, FWC obtained information in January 2018 that black bears were being killed by dogs in North Florida after being baited.
Following the tip, FWC conducted an 11-month investigation which included examining the defendants’ social media accounts and placing a GPS tracking device on Dustin Reddish’s truck.
‘This bear thought he could fly’
Investigators found videos posted on Haley Anders’s Instagram account in November 2017 showing dogs fighting with bears.
News 6 also reported that in a Feb. 11, 2018, Instagram video posted on Anders’s account, a bear is videoed clinging to the top of a tree while dogs barked below.
“Someone can be heard beating the tree with a stick, according to FWC, which causes the bear to jump off and land on the ground where it is attacked by a pack of dogs,” the station reported.
“This bear thought he could fly,” Anders wrote on her Instagram page under the video, as the desperate animal jumped from the tree.
News 6 also said investigators believe the group was training dogs to hunt bears in order to sell the dogs in states that allow bear hunting. Florida does not.
