Warzycha, the animal cruelty officer for the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said Carlos Alvarez got off easy when Judge Francis Marini gave him a suspended sentence while continuing the case without a finding for one year.
“We wanted jail time, even if it’s just three days or a week,” Warzycha said, adding that “you don’t usually see jail time in animal cruelty cases, and I think that’s unfortunate.”
An individual found guilty of animal cruelty in Massachusetts can serve up to two-and-a-half years in a house of correction.
The 47-year-old Alvarez admitted that except for an initial examination at a Dighton animal clinic, he did not seek serious medical care for the family dog after it was hit and injured by a car in 2009.
Instead, he kept the frail Schnauzer mix named Harry in a cage, occasionally applying salve to its wounded extremities, which over time became so infected that the dog would no longer be able to walk.
Harry, who has since been renamed Indi, came to the attention of the RISPCA on July 4, 2011 when a female friend of Alvarez dropped him off in a box at the front door of the East Providence facility.
And had it not been for a concerned citizen who happened to stop by the shelter and discovered the dog’s “incapacitated skeleton of a body,” it was likely that Indi would have perished that night, according to an article posted by RISPCA president E.J. Finocchio.
When Indi was transported to Swansea’s Bay State Veterinary Emergency Services, according to a report filled with the court, he was emaciated, suffered from open sores, was infected with Lyme Disease and had toe nails growing into the pads of his feet.
The report also states he had heartworm, that his wounds were “extremely infected” and that his skin had been scalded by urine.
Alvarez claimed he didn’t have the money to bring the dog in for x-rays that might have led to effective treatment.
It took authorities close to a month and repeated visits to his apartment at 106 Providence St. to contact Alvarez, who worked as a landscape laborer. He reportedly accepted blame for Harry’s maladies.
The veterinary report also notes testimony from a neighbor who said Alvarez and his live-in girlfriend were planning a “humongous” birthday party for their young daughter, which would contradict his having pleaded poverty regarding x-rays for the dog.
That neighbor, however, said she failed to contact authorities despite her having known of the dog’s condition because she didn’t want to get involved.
Eight-year-old Indi was treated and nursed back to health over a period of months but is not able to stand on his rear haunches and walk. As a result, he's fitted to a specially designed wheelchair.
Warzycha said the dog spent some time living in a temporary foster home belonging to another employee before being permanently adopted by a woman known as a RISPCA volunteer.
Warzycha said in his three years with RISPCA the severity of Indi’s injuries ranks second only to the case of a Salve Regina University student accused of torturing and killing a cottontail rabbit.
“I’ve never seen it to that severity before,” Warzycha said, referring to the dog’s wounds and ill health.
The name Indi, according to the vet’s report, symbolizes the fact that the former Harry was dropped off at the shelter on July 4 and that he was gaining independence from “a horrifying environment.”
(tauntongazette.com - April 13, 2012)
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