Juliana Fiorio, 20, was released from the Palm Beach County Jail this morning on her own recognizance. She is facing charges of cruelty to animals and resisting an officer without violence.
A Delray Beach Police officer was dispatched to the Publix at 1538 S. Federal Hwy., at 5:02 p.m. Wednesday to reports of a dog locked in a car.
When he arrived, he ran into three witnesses who said they were concerned about the dog; one even said she almost “broke the window when she saw the windows were rolled up” with the car not running.
The officer noticed that inside the car was a Boxer that was “clearly” in distress from the heat. It was 84 degrees outside, the officer noted in the arrest report.
As he stood by the car, the officer noticed its lights flashed as if someone were deactivating the alarm.
Fiorio, the dog's owner, had walked through the parking lot, unlocking the door with a remote. She walked past the officer as if nothing was wrong.
The officer asked if the car was hers.
"Why do you want to know?" she asked.
The officer then asked Fiorio to turn on her car for the dog.
"I don't have to listen to you," Fiorio said.
The officer explained he was investigating several reports that she left the dog in hot car with the windows rolled up, noting that 20 minutes had passed since he had gotten the first report.
"The dog's fine," she said, refusing to give her I.D. "I don't have to give you my ID."
The officer asked for her ID again, but Fiorio said she was going to "tape" the officer and "call her mother."
As Fiorio called her mother, she handed the officer her license. But when another officer showed up, Fiorio walked up the first officer and grabbed her license out of his hand, quickly turning away.
Police slapped handcuffs on her and put her in the back of the car.
When she was cuffed, she said, “I hate you f— cops.”
Once in custody, the officer took her keys and started the car for the dog. He gave the dog water, which was “extremely thirsty, lethargic” and “clammy to the touch.”
She "showed no remorse," the officer wrote in a report.
The dog was turned over to Fiorio’s mother.
At the police department, detectives asked Fiorio if she had anything sharp on her.
According to a report, Fiorio said she "wished she had her blade on her."
Fiorio was released from Palm Beach County Jail at 1 a.m. Thursday.
(Palm Beach Post - Aug 30, 2012)