Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control officers responded to a neighbor's complaint on January 6 regarding seeing and hearing a man beating his brown pit bull.
On January 10, officers met with the neighbor who told them that the man has two dogs and she constantly hears a man hitting and punching the brown colored dog. She stated that she hears the dog screaming constantly and can hear the dog being slammed against the walls.
She recalled witnessing the man shooting fireworks at the dog as if it was a game.
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| Phillip Rodriguez |
Officers then went to the reported address and met with Phillip Rodriguez, 19, who stated there were two dogs on the property. They also met with Richard Lacondrata, Jr., who identified himself as Phillip Rodriguez's father.
Lacondrata said he has a puppy named Gracie that was running around and appeared healthy. Mr. Lacondrata told officers he did not beat his dog.
When officers questioned him on whether Rodriguez beat the animals, Lacondrata said that his son does "spank" the dog and that he told his son not to do that.
Officers were then called off by dispatch to respond to an injured animal complaint.
When they returned to the home of Rodriguez and Lacondrata to continue the possible cruelty investigation, they found Rodriguez hosing off the back walkway and a dog crate next to him that was recently sprayed off.
Rodriguez then retrieved the puppy, a male, red and white Pit Bull mix named Bullet, at the officers' request.
One of the Animal Care Officers immediately noticed what appeared to be severe swelling above both of the dog's eyes.
The dog also had some scratches on its face and some healed puncture wounds on the sides of its face, according to an affidavit.
There was swelling that was noticed going from the right jaw all the way around the nose of the dog.
An officer also noticed a gurgling sound coming from the dog.
Bullet appeared to be very skinny and had scabs and scars on his legs and on his ear tips.
Officers noticed that the dog appeared to be uncomfortable around Rodriguez and would shake whenever Rodiguez approached the dog.
According to an affidavit, Bullet had staining on his paws possibly from standing in urine and/or feces for extended periods of time.
Rodriguez denied hitting the dog and said he was unsure how Bullet's injuries occurred.
Rodriguez denied ownership of the dog, saying it belonged to his ex-girlfriend named Elaine Villareal, although he could not spell her last name for the officer.
Rodriguez refused to sign paperwork that would surrender the dog to Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control, but the animal was seized by officers anyway due to the severity of injuries and the complaint made.
Bullet was examined by staff veterinarian Dr. Virginia Sayre, who evaluated the dog as being very underweight.
Dr. Sayre found the bones of the shoulder blades, ribs, spine, and pelvic bones were protruding and easily visible.
Dr. Sayre found Bullet to have "no palpable fat on his body" and had suffered some muscle mass loss.
Bullet was also found to have two golf ball sized swellings over both eyes.
According to Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control, x-rays showed multiple fractures around the eye orbits/frontal bones. One spot was fractured in at least four places.
Almost all of Bullet's canine and incisor teeth were broken or knocked out, according to the report.
The edges of the teeth were very sharp and not worn smooth.
Bullet was also found to be dehydrated as well as having hookworms.
Dr. Sayre concluded that Bullet was suffering from severe blunt force trauma to the head and that his injuries were consistent with having been beaten by a person.
She stated that she felt this was one of the worst cases of intent to harm that she had ever seen.
Following Dr. Sayre's findings, Animal Control Officers returned to the home to remove the other puppy, Gracie.
Officers visited the address and informed Lacondrata that they would be removing Gracie. Lacondrata said he was upset about the removal, but said he understood and did not try to interfere with the removal of the dog. Upon arrival at the Animal Control facility, Gracie was found to be healthy.
Animal Control Officers were able to make contact with the owner of the dog, Rodriguez's ex-girlfriend, Elaine Villareal.
Villareal stated she would surrender the dog to Animal Control as she was unable to keep weight on the dog. The Animal Control Officer informed Villareal that the dog had no issues gaining weight while he had been at Animal Control.
Villareal claimed that Bullet was in poor condition when she obtained the dog off Craigslist, saying it was "unhealthy looking" with scars and lumps on its head. She told the officers she had never seen Rodriguez hit Bullet.
Following the investigation, officers returned to Rodriguez's residence and placed him under arrest. He is charged with two counts of animal cruelty.
(WPTV - Feb 25, 2015)
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