Florida: Former Beauty Queen Tells Jury About Pit Bull Attack

FLORIDA -- Strangers usually do not see the wounds. But when Dawn Alberti looks in the mirror, the former beauty queen says she sees scars and a nose wider than it was before Jan. 9, 1987 when a pit bull named Ginger mauled her face.

Alberti, 24, of Boca Raton, will not pursue the acting and modeling career she dreamed about before the attack -- not because she does not have the good looks, but because she thinks she does not, she told a Palm Beach County Circuit Court jury on Wednesday.

Alberti is suing the dog's owners, her family's former neighbors, Victor Rosner, Janet Rosner and Doug Rosner.

"I used to look a lot better, a lot better," she testified. "Now my nose bothers me, the mark under my lip bothers me, the mark near my eye bothers me -- all because of that dog."

The Rosners do not dispute that their dog attacked Alberti, but they do contest having to pay for something like the "loss of enjoyment of life" she claims it caused, said Mark Klingensmith, the Rosners' attorney.

Alberti is not asking that the Rosners pay for medical bills of about $5,000, nor the cost of additional cosmetic surgery, nor for the difference in what she might have earned as a model or actress and what she makes now as a nail technician.

She concedes that it is her own idea that she does not look good enough, rather than something someone told her, that keeps her from following her dreams.

Winner of a beauty pageant in her native Long Island, N.Y., and runner-up in a pageant for teenagers sponsored by a nightclub there, Alberti had contacted a talent agency in Boca Raton before her family`s planned move in January 1987.

She had plans with the agency to screen test for the movie, Revenge of the Nerds, she testified. The part called for "a bathing suit on the beach," Alberti said.

But 20 minutes after the Albertis moved into their new townhouse in Boca Raton, she went outside to get a tool for her father and met Doug Rosner as he was walking the dog. That was when the dog jumped up and bit her in the face, Alberti testified.

What did she remember about the attack? asked her attorney, Geri Sue Straus.

"The inside of his mouth ... pink, dark," Alberti responded. "I remember feeling cold on my face ... blood on my face, my nose, my eye."

What was she feeling?

"I was in pain. I was in shock," she said. "I was afraid. I was afraid to look in the mirror."

(Sun Sentinel - January 25, 1990)

Florida: Allen Holmes, 25, arrested after he broke into the animal shelter and stole his pit bull, which had been seized after mauling a cat to death

FLORIDA -- A vicious pit bull, illegally stolen from an animal control shelter in October, was recaptured and euthanized on Friday. The owner of the dog was arrested, the Broward Sheriff`s Office said.

Deputies saw Allen Richard Holmes, 25, and his pit bull, Alvin, sitting in Holmes` car at a service station in the 3600 block of Davie Road on Thursday night, Sheriff`s Office spokesman George Crolius said.

When deputies approached Holmes, he gave them a false name card and began to kick the windows after they put him inside the patrol car, Crolius said.

On Oct. 12, an employee at the shelter discovered the dog was missing when he found a gate cut at the shelter at 1871 SW 40th St. The dog was put there on Aug. 29 after it killed a cat and was declared vicious.

Holmes was charged with possession of stolen property, providing false information, resisting arrest with violence, criminal damage to property and loitering.

(Sun Sentinel - January 13, 1990)

Florida: George Bonner and boy, 14, charged after making pit bulls fight

FLORIDA -- A man and a 14-year-old boy were charged with cruelty to animals after they started a fight between two pit bulls and stood by while the dogs mauled each other, police said.

Both dogs were confiscated, along with three other pit bulls that were badly malnourished, reports released on Thursday show.

"The guys weren't fighting the dogs for money, they were just doing it to watch," police officer John Evans said.

The teenager was arrested in the back yard of a home in the first block of Southwest Fifth Avenue, where the fight occurred and where the second suspect, George Bonner, 20, lives.

Bonner ran when police arrived but later turned himself. Both face misdemeanor charges.

One dog suffered puncture wounds on its head and face, particularly around its eyes. One dog was limping and its left front leg was bleeding when police arrived, officers said.

Two pit bull puppies and an adult female were in a nearby cage.

"Their ribs were showing and their hip bones were visible," Evans said. "They looked really bad."

(Sun Sentinel - January 12, 1990)

Georgia: Prosecutors said Mitchell Munoz is dangerous and wanted him hospitalized, but Judge Wayne Purdom turned him loose among us

GEORGIA -- A man accused of torturing and killing at least 77 cats is out of jail, but a judge ordered him to find a job, begin intense psychotherapy, and spend his nights at home while awaiting trial.

Mitchell M. Munoz, a 34-year-old unemployed Emory Law School graduate, was released Friday after Judge Wayne Purdom reduced his bond from $75,000 to $25,000 while imposing the restrictions.

Munoz was arrested in October after a photo processor notified police that film dropped off by Munoz showed cats that had been tortured.

Before making the arrest, officers said they discovered photographs of dead kittens, three severed cat tails under a bathroom sink and written diaries documenting when the cats were acquired, how they behaved and what torture and abuse was done to them.

 A nylon rope hanging from the bathroom shower rod -- used to hang kittens -- also was found, officers said.

At a hearing Friday, prosecutors said Munoz is dangerous and should be hospitalized. But Judge Purdom clearly doesn't think the torture deaths of nearly 100 animals (or more) is that big of a deal; he sided with Munoz's attorney that the bond be reduced.

No trial date has been set.

(AP - Dec 11, 1989)

Earlier:

• Georgia: Law school graduate who couldn't pass the bar, Mitchell Munoz, 34, charged in torture-killings of 77 cats and kittens. 

Georgia: Law school graduate who couldn't pass the bar, Mitchell Munoz, 34, charged in torture-killings of 77 cats and kittens.

GEORGIA -- Police charged a law school graduate with torturing and killing 77 cats he obtained through free-kitten newspaper advertisements.

Mitchell Munoz (Mitch Munoz, Mitchell M. Munoz), 34, of DeKalb County was arrested Thursday after police were tipped by an employee of a photo processing plant who saw pictures of the suspect executing the animals in his apartment.

Before making the arrest, officers said they discovered photographs of dead kittens, three severed cat tails under a bathroom sink and written diaries documenting when the cats were acquired, how they behaved and what torture and abuse was done to them.

 A nylon rope hanging from the bathroom shower rod -- used to hang kittens -- also was found, officers said.

'It's disgusting and weird,' said police Capt. A.R. King. 'We've had cruelty to animal cases over the years, but nothing this unusual.'

Detective Lanny Mosley said Munoz graduated from Emory University law school but failed to pass the bar examination.

'Isn't it horrible?' said Virginia Wilkinson, an assistant at the DeKalb County Humane Society. 'Isn't it awful? It's made everybody here sick to our stomachs.

'It worries us that his reason was that he was stressed out and just didn't like cats,' she added. 'What if he just didn't like his neighbor?'

Wilkinson said officials at the humane society were disappointed that the charge against Munoz was not more serious than a series of misdemeanors.

'I could be charged with the same thing for driving down the road too fast,' she said. 'If he could do this to cats, he must be really sick.'

Munoz, in custody at the DeKalb County jail, was charged with 77 misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals. Bond was set at $75,000.

Munoz, unable to hold a job since graduation, told police he obtained the cats by answering newspaper advertisements offering free kittens, authorities said. All but a few of the victims were young kittens.

Police were led to Munoz by a film processing employee who notified animal control officers after reviewing pictures of the kittens being tortured and killed. 

The roll of film had been dropped off at a drug store Oct. 9 by Munoz under a false name and address, investigators said.

After identifying Munoz, who appeared in some unrelated pictures on the roll, police searched his apartment.

During their search, Mosley said, officers found evidence that the cats had been killed starting in 1987.

(UPI - Oct 13, 1989)

Florida: Vicious pit bull attacks and kills a cat, mauls another dog and then lunges at animal control officer's window smashing the glass before an officer tries to shoot it

FLORIDA -- A Broward Sheriff's Office deputy on Tuesday shot at an 80-pound pit bull terrier that lunged at a animal control officer who was trying to capture the snarling animal, authorities said.

The dog, which had killed a cat and attacked a dog in the Silver Oaks Mobile Home Park in the 5900 block of Southwest 34th Street near Davie, leaped against a window on Broward County Animal Control Officer Lori Morris's truck, Animal Control Director Alan Davis said.

The dog smashed the window and showered the frightened officer with shards of glass as Morris attempted to hook it with a catch pole, Davis said.

Deputy Sue Sumrall fired one round at the dog but apparently did not injure the animal, which retreated to its yard, authorities said.

"The dog was not shot," Davis said. "The dog was bleeding, but the veteranian seems to indicate he somehow got his toenail cut."

The dog was later taken to the animal control compound, and investigators late Tuesday were trying to locate its owner, Sheriff's Office spokesman Jim Leljedal said.

(Sun Sentinel - August 30, 1989)

California: Guard dog Trainer Bob Taylor has animal cruelty charge dropped in exchange for plea deal

CALIFORNIA -- When it comes to guard-dog training, Bob Taylor says, "I'm the best."

But Taylor's bravado was shaken Monday after he pleaded no contest in Orange County Municipal Court, Westminster, to training protection dogs without a license.

Taylor, a well-known trainer who operates Superior Dog Training in county territory near Stanton, said he is the victim of a legal technicality and a nosy neighbor.

The neighbor, Robert Keller, started things off when he complained to authorities that Taylor had mistreated dogs. Taylor said Keller imagined it.

Kennel Licenses Only

According to authorities, Taylor has every permit he needs to operate his kennel business but does not have a $250 protection-dog training license issued by the state Department of Consumer Affairs.

But Taylor insisted that he performs no protection-dog training. "I've used a much gentler alternative, and that's Schutzhund training," he said.

He described Schutzhund training as a sophisticated German technique he has been using for years to train German shepherds, Doberman pinschers and other breeds.

According to dog experts, Schutzhund does not involve "attack training," during which trainers in padded suits modify a dog's behavior by irritating the dog with a stick, prompting it to attack.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. David R. LaBahn said Taylor plainly was training protection dogs.

"I would put it to you, a jury or anyone else," LaBahn said, "if it looks like protection-dog training--that is, wearing the padded outfit and hitting with sticks--then it's consistent with protection-dog training."

Taylor said his problems began several years ago, when Keller peered over Taylor's fence. Keller later said he saw Taylor mistreat a dog. He said that on other occasions he saw Taylor or Taylor's handler wearing padded dog-trainer's garb and hitting a dog with a stick to make it attack.

Keller complained to the state Department of Consumer Affairs, which led to the criminal case.

Taylor insisted that the case is a waste of tax money--"a lot of nothing"--but Monday he pleaded no contest to operating a business without a license, a misdemeanor. Municipal Judge Dan C. Dutcher fined Taylor $175 and placed him on two years' probation.

As part of a plea bargain, the district attorney dropped charges of cruelty to animals and false advertising.

This does NOT mean Taylor wasn't guilty of mistreating or abusing dogs. It simply means that in an effort to clear the case out, the prosecutor offered him a similar level crime to plead to. 

Taylor said Monday that Keller is motivated by jealousy over Taylor's successful business.

Keller denied it. "He's just calling it by a different name," Keller said, "but it's still protection-dog training."

Taylor accused the state Department of Consumer Affairs of splitting hairs about its definition of protection-dog training.

The department denied it. "We've been at this with Mr. Taylor since 1983," said Ernest Luzania, deputy chief of the Bureau of Collection and Investigative Service in Sacramento. "He has always claimed that he wasn't doing training as the professions code defines protection-dog training. We are of the opinion that he was, and that's why we filed charges.

"We're not splitting hairs, he is," Luzania said.

Taylor said he was once told by Luzania's agency that he did not need a protection-dog license. He later applied for a license and was rejected because the agency had begun its investigation of Keller's claims, he said.

Taylor said he will go before an administrative hearing judge today to appeal the agency's license denial.

Update: Bob Taylor has been charged with felony animal cruelty (2017).

(Los Angeles Times - August 15, 1989)