DANIA BEACH, Florida – A Dania Beach man abandoned his 3-year-old pit dog “Keys” in his backyard with “no proper shelter, food, or water,” according to authorities.

They said when they went to Anthony Vonterr Louis’ house in late May, they discovered the dead dog connected to a lawn mower handle, “covered in maggots and already decomposing.”

Deputies with the Broward Sheriff’s Office detained Louis, 58, on a warrant following a traffic stop on Sunday.

Prosecutors said in court Monday that he admitted leaving the dog in his backyard and going to Jacksonville.

BSO Detective Dimos Charoudis said in an arrest report that on May 26, he went to Louis’ home in the 300 block of Northwest Fifth Avenue and found dried dog food and a “dirty” five-gallon bucket “half-filled with green mildew water.”

Charoudis discovered a busted doghouse issued to Louis by Broward County Animal Care.

Deputies stated that BCAC gave him with the doghouse in May 2023 after getting a complaint about his keeping the dog outside without cover, food, or water.

The report adds that BCAC received a second report on Louis in March 2024.

Louis “intentionally neglected his dog for years,” Charoudis concluded, leading to its “cruel death.”

Deputies said they noticed Louis climbing into the passenger seat of a pickup truck on Sunday and, knowing he had a warrant out for his arrest for nonsupport of a parent, pulled over the vehicle on Interstate 95 at Hollywood Boulevard.

Louis was being held in the BSO Main Jail on a $25,000 bond on Monday after being charged with felony animal cruelty.