Prosecutors drop charges against animal rights activists in monkey farm case

HENDRY COUNTY, Fla.- A group of animal rights protestors accused of trespassing on a monkey farm will not face charges.

Thursday morning prosecutors decided not to go ahead with the case.

Jury selection was expected to begin at 9 a.m., but the trial was stopped before it even got started.

In November 2014, seven animal rights activists were arrested for driving onto a monkey farm off of State Road 80 in Labelle.

At the time, the men said they used the call box at the gate to the Mannheimer Foundation facility but nobody responded.

The activists said they were turning around to leave when they were arrested by what they described as one dozen sheriff’s deputies, who zip tied their wrists, and took them to jail.

Property owner Joseph Wagner says the group did not press the call box and disregarded the no trespassing signs.

He said he wanted to press charges back then and so all seven men were booked for misdemeanor trespassing.

In January, four of the seven men took a deal with prosecutors, admitting fault and agreeing to pay fines and do community service in exchange for the charges getting dropped.

Three of the men held out until Thursday, maintaining their innocence and willing to go ahead with a jury trial.

Now, the State Attorney’s Office has decided to back out. Prosecutors have not said why they decided to not go ahead with the case.

The three men who were supposed to go to trial, aren’t completely in the clear just yet. If new evidence surfaces, prosecutors could choose to resurrect the case against them once again.