A Big Pine Key man was arrested early Friday after authorities say he stole alcohol from a restaurant and removed a dog from an animal shelter.
Monroe County Sheriff's deputies responded to a call about alcohol stolen from Sunset Grille on Knight's Key. A security guard spotted a man with a dog at the restaurant around 2:30 a.m. The man fled on foot when he was confronted.
Deputies found 46-year-old Luke Meadows underneath the Seven Mile Bridge. Beside him, they also found two crates of liquor and a dog. Meadows allegedly admitted to breaking into Sunset Grille and stealing the alcohol.
Meadows told the deputies that he had "broken his dog out of jail." He admitted to breaking in to the Marathon animal shelter and removing the German Shepherd-Chow mix from a locked cage.
Meadows is facing charges of two counts of burglary and one count of grand theft.
