![\"Florida](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/cd20c97c-81f2-4b8d-a927-e4f5c9b5a806-Screenshot20260624at10.21.51AM.png\"\/)
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Florida woman arrested after dog’s mouth found taped shut: sheriff (Photo: Polk County Sheriff’s Office)<\/p>\n
The investigation began after sheriff’s deputies saw a photo circulating on Facebook showing a dog with duct tape wrapped around its muzzle.<\/p>\n
Detectives traced the image to a woman who told investigators she found the dog beneath a wheelchair ramp and noticed it appeared to be hyperventilating. She and her son removed the tape, allowing the dog to breathe normally.<\/p>\n
Detectives canvassed the area and located the dog’s owner, Roosa, at a residence on Chipman Lane in Auburndale.<\/p>\n
![\"Tammy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/47ce218c-ac2f-43a5-ac8a-c200f504d1df-Screenshot20260624at10.21.01AM.png\"\/)
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Tammy Roosa (Photo: Polk County Sheriff’s Office)<\/p>\n
According to the sheriff’s office, Roosa admitted she taped the dog’s muzzle shut the previous night because she claimed the dog had tried to bite her. Investigators said she showed no remorse and did not believe her actions were wrong.<\/p>\n
The dog, named Cooper, was surrendered to authorities and transported to Polk County Animal Control for evaluation. Veterinarians found scarring consistent with the duct tape and determined the dog was malnourished. The examination also revealed marks on Cooper’s neck indicating he had been tied up for an extended period.<\/p>\n
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Florida woman arrested after dog’s mouth found taped shut: sheriff (Photo: Polk County Sheriff’s Office)<\/p>\n
Authorities said Roosa resisted arrest but was ultimately taken into custody. While retrieving her purse from inside her recreational vehicle at her request, deputies reported finding large amounts of garbage, roaches and a strong odor of feces and urine.<\/p>\n
Investigators also found seven cats, three fish, two lovebirds, two finches and a duck inside the RV. The animals were removed and taken to Animal Control for treatment and evaluation.<\/p>\n
Polk County Fire Rescue measured ammonia levels inside the RV at 100 parts per million, which authorities said is considered extreme and can cause chronic respiratory issues and eye irritation.<\/p>\n
Members of the Sheriff’s Office Agricultural Crimes Unit later inspected the property and reported finding piles of garbage, discarded household items and decaying materials in waist-high grass. Investigators also found leaking septic pipes and raw sewage, along with large numbers of flies and mosquitoes.<\/p>\n
Roosa was booked into the Polk County Jail and charged with aggravated animal cruelty, animal neglect, resisting an officer without violence, operating an unpermitted landfill and multiple counts of maintaining a nuisance injurious to health.<\/p>\n
Sheriff Grady Judd said all of the animals are expected to recover and praised Animal Control staff for caring for them following their rescue.<\/p>\n
\u201cCooper the dog had been treated horribly, but I am happy to report that some good things have come out of this ordeal. Cooper is getting wonderful treatment and care by the great staff at Animal Control, and all of his little animal friends have been freed from their horrible living conditions as well. All of the animals are expected to fully recover. Meanwhile, Tammy Roosa is facing an abundance of criminal charges,” Judd said in a statement, adding in a comment, “As a reminder, when we seize animals during an animal cruelty investigation it can often take a month or several months for the animals to be available for adoption so PLEASE DO NOT inundate Polk County Animal Control with phone calls about Cooper or the cats we are rehabilitating. Thank you!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUBURNDALE, Fla. (WKRC) – A Florida woman was arrested after a dog’s mouth was found taped shut. According…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-318150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}