Pet store operator accused of cruelty

A Shih Tzu brought in for grooming leaves injured, officials say.

By MIKE BRASSFIELD, Times Staff Writer
Published September 21, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT Gary Mark Hicks, 36, was charged with two counts of animal cruelty and one count of improper confinement of an animal.

PLANT CITY - A pet store owner with a history of sex offenses was arrested Thursday on felony animal cruelty charges after the owner of a Shih Tzu complained that the dog returned from a grooming appointment with razor cuts to its face and genitals.

Authorities had also recently gotten a complaint from the owner of a Lhasa apso who suspected that her dog had been choked when it was left at the pet store to be groomed. After the dog's owner got her pet back, its eyes were severely bloodshot, said Hillsborough County Animal Services spokeswoman Marti Ryan.

Gary Mark Hicks, 36, who owns Pet City at 1103 N Wheeler Road, was charged with two counts of animal cruelty and one count of improper confinement of an animal. When animal control officers went to Hicks' house in Dover, they found a severely underweight boxer dog that was being kept without food or water, Ryan said.

"He's all skin and bones," Ryan said.

Hicks registered with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement as a sexual predator after a September 1999 conviction for sexual battery on a victim under 12. He also was convicted of other sex crimes. He was sentenced to 10 years of probation.

He was charged with violating his probation in 2004 when he owned another store called It's Alive Pets on State Road 60 in Brandon. Hicks, then 33, was arrested after complaints that he offered an 18-year-old employee alcohol on two occasions and made suggestive remarks.

Thursday's arrest came after animal control officers investigated the Shih Tzu owner's complaint. After retrieving the Shih Tzu from a grooming appointment at Pet City, its owner took the dog to a veterinarian and then called authorities, Ryan said. Hicks was charged with animal cruelty in the cases of the Shih Tzu and the boxer that was found in his house.

In the case involving the boxer, Hicks' live-in girlfriend and employee, Heather Ashley Morrison, 19, also was charged with animal cruelty and improper confinement of an animal.

In the case regarding the Lhasa apso that apparently had been choked, authorities had earlier filed a civil citation against Hicks because they didn't have enough evidence to file a criminal charge, Ryan said.

"In pictures of the dog, its eyes were so bloodshot it looked like they'd been colored in red with Magic Marker," she said.

Mike Brassfield can be reached at 813 226-3435 or brassfield@sptimes.com

[Last modified September 21, 2007, 00:55:53]