First Coast News is learning more about a Jacksonville man charged in connection to several missing cats later dead in the Springfield neighborhood.
Blake Miles, 35, was arrested on charges of animal cruelty and petit theft, police said.
Miles has a criminal history in Jacksonville with multiple arrests dating back to 2006, according to court records. Charges involve possession of a controlled substance, possession of a concealed firearm, violation of domestic violence injunctions and failure to appear.
It would also appear that he was the victim of a shooting in St. Augustine in the Cimarrone development in northern St. Johns in 2014.
It was actually former St. Augustine Beach Mayor Frank Charles who was questioned in the shooting, reports the Florida Times-Union.
Charles says that Miles was a recently fired employee and had been asleep at his home before the altercation and was injured in the early morning struggle.
The TU reports that Miles had worked at a Jacksonville pet resort Charles owned but was fired after a confrontation at the Dogtown USA pet resort in Mandarin.
Miles worked overnight caring for the animals, the Florida Times-Union reports.
Police were told that about 1 a.m. Charles received a drunken, threatening call from Miles, who said he would turn all the animals loose. The Florida Times-Union reports that when police met Charles at the business, Miles was gone but returned and continued to make threats, according to the arrest report.
Over the past month, JSO says officers have received multiple calls about missing cats and members of the local community notified the sheriff's office with possible information.
Police say tips were received via a neighborhood group that a man by the name of either "Blake" or "Will" was living in a rooming house behind a store located at E 3rd Street and N Market Street. This man reportedly matched the physical description of the suspect in the animal abuse incidents, police say.
Police responded, and a witness confirmed that Miles lived there. The witness also noted that during the time that Miles lived there, there were several incidents with Miles. The details of those incidents are redacted in the police report.
However, the witness told police that the suspect found whatever these incidents were to be "humorous."
