A man pleaded no contest Thursday to animal cruelty in Osceola Circuit Court after being accused of leaving over 100 geckos in a storage unit for more than two months, authorities said Friday.

The investigation into 48-year-old Kelvin Enrique Soto — not to be confused with Osceola County Clerk of Court Kelvin Soto — began after a complaint to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission that abandoned reptiles had been found in a St. Cloud storage unit, according to a news release from the agency.

Inside, FWC found 111 geckos, 41 of which were dead from neglect, the release said. Of the 70 still alive, which were all identified as African fat-tailed geckos, they were thin and appeared very malnourished, according to an FWC incident report. The release said they were found in fil

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