Animal Cruelty Charges Lead to Resignation at Sheriff's Office

A 23-year veteran of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, facing charges of animal cruelty, has resigned after surrendering her four miniature horses to RVR Horse Rescue in Riverview, according to a sheriff's office report.

The report notes that on July 3, after Pamela Belo turned in her miniature horses, RVR Horse Rescue contacted the sheriff's office's agriculture unit, from which detectives "responded and immediately began an investigation."

"The investigation revealed that between July 2011 and July 2012, Pamela Belo deprived food and nourishment to two of the four miniature horses" in her custody and care.

Belo's actions reportedly "caused the two horses to suffer from malnutrition over an extended period" and that they "lost a high percentage of body weight."

One horse died of starvation and the second horse is expected to recover, the report notes.

• Bloomingdale-Riverview Patch editor D'Ann White reported on the incident from RVR Horse Rescue in Riverview. Her report, , talks about the four horses removed from Belo's care in Plant City.

Belo, 48, reportedly surrendered at the Orient Road Jail on July 16. She had been assigned to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office's Community Outreach Division. She was suspended without and subsequently resigned.

Belo will have to answer to two charges: one count of felony animal cruelty and one count of misdemeanor animal cruelty.