TAMPA, Fla., March 6 (UPI) -- Police in Florida said they arrested a man who allegedly engaged in a sex act with a dog in his yard in full view of shocked neighbors.

Tampa police said witnesses flagged down officers early Wednesday and told them Bernard Marsonek, 57, was committing a sex act with a pit bull in his yard and ignoring the pleas of neighbors begging him to stop, the Tampa Tribune reported Thursday.


Police said Marsonek was inside his house when officers arrived to question him.

Officers and Hillsborough County Animal Services executed a search warrant on the home and discovered a gun and ammunition inside the house.

Marsonek was arrested on felony charges of aggravated animal cruelty and two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was also charged with a misdemeanor count of sexual activity involving animals.

Animal services officials seized eight pit bulls from Marsonek's home, police said.