BY DAN HILDEBRAN
One of three men arrested for starving a dog to death on November 4, 2024, was ruled incompetent to defend himself in court and will spend the next six months confined in a facility run by Florida’s Agency for Persons with Disabilities.
Mark Anthony Stevens, 21, was arrested along with Aaron Luke Stevens, 23, and James McLoon, 52, after Bradford deputies discovered a neglected dog at their Lincoln City mobile home during an eviction.
Animal Control later euthanized the dog due to advanced stages of starvation.
On January 29, Aaron Stevens pleaded to animal cruelty and resisting an officer and was sentenced to three years’ probation.
The following week, McLoon indicated to Judge James M. Colaw that he intended to take his case to trial.
On February 12, Colaw, based on a report from a forensic and clinical psychologist, ruled that Mark Stevens had been diagnosed with Mild Intellectual Disability and Substance Abuse Disorder.
He ordered the defendant into the custody of the state agency and scheduled a status review of the case on August 27.
