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The city of Inverness filed an eviction lawsuit to remove Out of the Box and its president Robert Schweickert Jr. from this house. The city had allowed the rescue to stay rent-free.
Dusty, a three-and-a-half-year-old pit mix, bit an 11-year-old boy on March 9, 2018, but its keepers at Out of the Box Animal Rescue Inc. didn't forfeit the dog to authorities until March 19 so it could be quarantined for rabies, prompting the boy to undergo what would become unneeded rabies treatments.
The city of Inverness filed an eviction lawsuit to remove Out of the Box and its president Robert Schweickert Jr. from this house. The city had allowed the rescue to stay rent-free.
A Citrus County judge held an Inverness animal-rescue group responsible for not giving up a dog that had bit a child and needed to be monitored for rabies.
During a Friday infraction hearing, Judge Mark Yerman ruled that Out of the Box Animal Rescue Inc. was guilty of all 10 animal violations documented in several citations against the nonprofit group and its president, Robert Schweickert Jr.
Yerman also handed Out of the Box a $1,000 fine — $100 per violation.
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Out of the Box Animal Rescue, Inc. president Robert Schweickert Jr.
Special to the Chronicle
Yerman’s rulings and orders followed Out of the Box attorney Eric Evilsizer’s decision not to contest the seven subsequent citations from Citrus County Sheriff’s Office Animal Control.
Animal Control Supervisor Lora Peckham and Officer Beau Gallant cited Schweickert’s Out of the Box for seven counts of not complying with rabies quarantine procedures and three counts of interfering with animal control officers.
According to Peckham and court records, Dusty, a three-and-a-half-year-old pit mix in the care of Out of the Box — which fosters dogs with aggression and behavioral issues — had bitten an 11-year-old child on March 9.
Dusty, a three-and-a-half-year-old pit mix, bit an 11-year-old boy on March 9, 2018, but its keepers at Out of the Box Animal Rescue Inc. didn't forfeit the dog to authorities until March 19 so it could be quarantined for rabies, prompting the boy to undergo what would become unneeded rabies treatments.
Special to the Chronicle
But neither Out of the Box nor Schweickert handed Dusty over to authorities or Florida Department of Health officials until March 19 for them to quarantine Dusty for rabies, Peckham said.
Peckham informed Yerman that since health officials weren’t able to evaluate Dusty, his bite victim still had to undergo 14 preventative rabies injections, which weren’t needed in the end.
“It was important he’d be found guilty on all charges,” Peckham said after the hearing. “It was countless hours of investigation, of footwork to try and find that dog for that sole purpose of trying to prevent that little boy from trying to endure that.”
Schweickert, who was in the courthouse but did not appear beside Evilsizer at Friday’s hearing, could not be reached for comment.
Peckham said she and Gallant weren’t able to start their investigations until March 12, when they got a bite report from the health department.
However, Schweickert denied Dusty was ever in Out of the Box’s care — a claim Peckham discredited after finding photos of Dusty on Out of the Box’s Facebook page.
“From the very inception, the focus was we just need to find this dog and make sure it’s under quarantine to make sure this little boy doesn’t get shots,” Peckham said.
From March 13 to until Schweickert produced Dusty, Peckham and Gallant continued to ask Schweickert about Dusty’s whereabouts, and cited him each day he refused to cooperate.
“It was a needless series of events,” Peckham said.
At one point during the investigation, Peckham added, Schweickert had even offered for Out of the Box to quarantine Dusty — a sign he knew where the dog was at the time.
“We all knew he knew where the dog was, he was telling us lies,” Peckham said, adding Out of the Box and its volunteer staff were not equipped to handle a proper quarantine.
Peckham said in court she’s worried Schweickert’s Out of the Box could create this whole ordeal again.
“I’m concerned about the future and the fact Mr. Schweickert wasted the county’s time,” she told Yerman, who asked Evilsizer to warn his client.
“You might want to counsel him with regard to his business operation,” Yerman said. “He’s got a lot of exposure he’s opening himself up to.”
