The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office made 18 arrests, handled 787 calls for service, and conducted 124 traffic stops between 6 p.m. on Friday, July 24, and 6 a.m. on Monday, July 27, 2026. Two incidents from Saturday stood out: the rescue of nine dogs left caged in a sweltering garage and the arrest of a fugitive who tried to avoid detection by driving a golf cart down a public sidewalk.
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The animal cruelty case began just before 1:30 p.m. Saturday when a DoorDash delivery driver spotted a two-level cage inside a partially open garage on Rolland Lane in Palm Coast. The driver saw an adult American Bully in the lower section and a litter of puppies in the upper section, with no food or water visible and every animal visibly panting. The driver called law enforcement. When a deputy arrived, they observed eight puppies approximately four and a half weeks old piled on top of each other in the upper cage, sharing a bowl with almost no water remaining. Their mother, a two-year-old nursing dog named Envy, was in the lower cage beside an empty bowl. The outside temperature was 97 degrees.
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Shafaira Johnson, 36, of Palatka, came out through the garage and told the deputy she had expected the DoorDash driver to make the call. She refused to allow the deputy into the garage and said she could not move the dogs inside because she was waiting on someone to return with her vehicle. When the deputy ordered her to give Envy water at 1:40 p.m., Johnson declined, saying the dog had already been watered and tends to get sick from drinking too much. Nine minutes later, after a second order, she filled the bowl. As Animal Control officers were en route, Johnson began closing the garage door. When directed to reopen it, she instead began loading the puppies into a cardboard box and read the deputy a text message claiming law enforcement had no authority to enter the garage. The deputy issued multiple orders to reopen the door due to the danger the heat posed to the animals. Johnson refused each time and positioned herself between the deputy and the dogs. Just before 2:45 p.m., a man arrived and handed over a cardboard box containing the eight puppies, whose fur was warm to the touch. Animal Control took the puppies into an air-conditioned vehicle. Envy, still heavily panting and lactating, was surrendered next. Johnson was arrested on charges of animal cruelty, confinement of animals without sufficient food or water, and resisting without violence. She was booked into the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility and released on a $1,500 bond.
“Eight puppies and their mother barked for help as they baked in a 97-degree garage,” said Sheriff Rick Staly. “Thankfully a DoorDash driver ‘saw something and said something,’ and now all nine dogs are safe, cool, and being cared for. If you can’t take care of your animals, surrender them. Lately we have arrested far too many people who don’t care about their animals’ well-being. Don’t lock your pets in conditions you wouldn’t want to live in yourself.”
Later that same Saturday, shortly before 5:45 p.m., a deputy stopped a golf cart being driven on the sidewalk and through a crosswalk at the intersection of Belle Terre Parkway and Zebulahs Trail. Florida law prohibits motorized vehicles on sidewalks unless a city has specifically authorized golf cart use — which Palm Coast has not. The driver, identified as Malachai Kenyon-Gonzalez, 20, of Palm Coast, was found to have an active Volusia County warrant for driving while his license was suspended. He was arrested on the warrant, transported to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility, and released on a $500 bond. “This guy is wanted in another county for driving on a suspended license, so his solution was to take a golf cart down the sidewalk instead,” said Sheriff Staly. “Palm Coast isn’t The Villages and Belle Terre Parkway isn’t the back nine. Golf-carting down the sidewalk isn’t a clever workaround, it’s the wrong course and out-of-bounds.”
The post 18 Arrests Over the Weekend: Nine Dogs Rescued from 97-Degree Garage, Wanted Man Caught on Golf Cart first appeared on Flagler County Buzz.
