The adoptive family of a dog who made national headlines after he was found abandoned and tied to a fence during Hurricane Milton is outraged after learning that the animal cruelty charges against his former owner have been dropped.
Video of Trooper the dog captured the country’s attention last fall when he was found by the Florida Highway Patrol, tied to a pole off of Interstate 75 as the Category 3 hurricane barreled toward Florida.
Last October, Hillsborough County State Attorney Suzy Lopez said 23-year-old Giovanny Garcia, Trooper’s former owner, was “going to pay the price” for allegedly abandoning the bull terrier during the storm.
“We’re going to prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law,” Lopez said at the time. “We take animal cruelty very seriously in Hillsborough County. We protect our most vulnerable citizens. The fact that someone could just leave a defenseless animal tied to a pole on the interstate.”
Garcia was charged with aggravated animal cruelty. However, just one year later, Frank Spina, Trooper’s new adoptive father, said the Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office called him, saying that the charges against Garcia were being dropped due to a lack of evidence.
“I said, ‘Suzy, actually it was you who went on the news a year ago. It was you who stood up in front of your constituents in your county next to the governor, and it was you who told everybody that this defendant tied [Trooper] to a pole,” Spina told CBS News Miami.
In May, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed “Trooper’s Law,” which makes it a felony to abandon a pet during a natural disaster or evacuation order. The legislation went into effect on Oct. 1, and violators can now face up to five years in prison, along with a $10,000 fine.
“Now, that’s 10 months into your investigation. Sixty days later, on the cusp of trial, two weeks later, you do an about-face and all of a sudden, you quote ‘don’t have the evidence?'” Spina told CBS News Miami. “So, what good are having these laws if the prosecutor’s office refuses to enforce it?”
The Spinas told CBS News Miami that Trooper is recovering from the trauma of Hurricane Milton. He also had cancer and was found with several pounds of trash in his stomach. Overall, his adoptive family said Trooper’s better now, but he deserves justice.
“My only request is that Suzy Lopez takes a look at this case, knows that she can make out this case based on the evidence that she says she has, and if she can’t, she should charge him with a lesser offense that the defense lawyer himself said he would be willing to accept or there’s one other option: step out of the way,” Spina said.
CBS News Miami has reached out to DeSantis’ office to see whether he has plans to assign a special prosecutor to Trooper’s case and to the Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office to see if Lopez plans to refile a lesser charge against Garcia.
