FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested a 46-year-old man on Wednesday after accusing him of not properly caring for 14 puppies and four adult dogs that were at his family home.
On Thursday, Broward County prosecutors filed a third-degree felony case with 41 charges against Jamar Clair, a convicted felon who was born in Fort Lauderdale and lives in Oakland Park, records show.
Clair refused to appear in bond court on Thursday morning. Broward County Circuit Judge Corey B. Friedman, who was presiding, allowed his relatives to speak during the bond court hearing.
“My dad is a caring and supportive person ... Those were not his dogs, and I do not believe that he harmed any animals,” Clair’s daughter Jamilia Clair told Friedman in court.
Relatives said Clair was doing the dogs’ owner a favor. A prosecutor told Friedman during the hearing that “once someone accepts the responsibility of caring for animals, it is their responsibility whether they were the original dog owner or not.”
Friedman said BSO deputies reported Clair refused to cooperate during the investigation, and he ordered him to stay away from animals.
“This was going on for months involving many different dogs,” the prosecutor told Friedman.
Clair is facing 18 counts of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, a third-degree felony.
Clair is also facing 23 counts of tormenting, depriving of sustenance, mutilating, or killing an animal, a first-degree misdemeanor.
Clair was the subject of animal control complaints in the last few years. On July 28, 2025, Broward County’s Animal Care Division issued Clair a citation for cruelty to animals in Fort Lauderdale, according to court records. The case remained open on Thursday.
The Florida Department of Corrections released Clair from prison on Oct. 17, 2020, after he was convicted of a robbery in Broward County and sentenced to six years and eight months in prison, records show.
Clair was at the Broward County Main Jail on Thursday afternoon in Fort Lauderdale. His bond was $75,500.
Broward County Circuit Judge Francis I. Viamontes was set to preside over Clair’s case.
Watch the bond court hearing
This is a developing story. Local 10 News has a pending records request for the BSO deputies’ arrest report on the case.
Local 10 News Assignment Editor Carson Merlo contributed to this report.
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