A judge on Thursday pushed back a criminal case that went viral over a man accused of abandoning his bull terrier tied to a fence along Interstate 75 in the face of an approaching major hurricane.

Giovanny Aldama Garcia, 23, of Ruskin, east of St. Petersburg, is facing a felony aggravated animal cruelty charge in a case that drew the attention of Gov. Ron DeSantis, national outrage – and a proposed new state law in Florida. He faces up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

“You don’t just tie up a dog and have them out there for a storm,” DeSantis said after Aldama Garcia’s arrest in October. “It’s totally unacceptable and we’re going to hold you accountable.”

The state attorney, Suzy Lopez, whose office is prosecuting Aldama Garcia, previously described herself as a dog owner and dog lover and said it was impossible for her to imagine tying a pet to a fence ahead of a Category 5 hurricane.

On Thursday, in a brief hearing in Hillsborough County Circuit Court, Judge G. Gregory Green set March 31 as the next stage of the case. Aldama Garcia had previously notified the judge that he did not plan to attend the hearing and would be represented by his defense lawyer, Tony Lopez of Tampa. Lopez wasn’t available after the hearing to discuss the case against his client.

The dog, renamed Trooper in honor of the Florida Highway Patrol officer who rescued him, was adopted by a family in South Florida, Frank and Carla Spina of Parkland, and underwent successful surgery in December to remove two cancerous tumors on his left side.

Then, last week, there was a new crisis in Trooper’s life: X-rays showed a foreign substance in Trooper’s stomach after the dog vomited a small piece of rubber. A specialist veterinary surgeon from Miami, Randy Dominguez, operated Saturday for three hours and extracted about 2 pounds of plastic and rubber material from Trooper’s stomach, Dominguez said.

“It was very challenging,” the veterinarian said. “You don’t really do that. You get in, you see that amount of garbage and you stop right there and convert to open surgery. But I took my chances and moved forward.”

Dominguez said he used an endoscopy, which is less invasive than stomach surgery and allowed Trooper to recover more quickly.

“The dog had suffered enough already,” Dominguez said.

Spina believed the dog ate the foreign matter because Aldama Garcia didn’t adequately feed it before abandoning it. The dog is back home and recovering this week.

“Trooper was full of garbage,” Spina wrote on social media. “That creep who abused him apparently was starving him also.” He added, “My best friend Trooper is home.”

Parkland Mayor Rich Walker expects to honor Trooper during a ceremony at the city hall meeting on Feb. 19.

Troopers’ plight is also provoking action in the Capitol. Lawmakers in Tallahassee are considering legislation that would make it illegal to abandon a dog that is restrained during a natural disaster. If passed, the bill would take effect July 1 and impose a fine of up to $10,000 and a prison term of up to five years—what Aldama Garcia is already facing under the felony aggravated animal cruelty charge.

The Senate Criminal Justice Committee will hold a hearing on its version of the bill on Tuesday of next week.

“ People need to understand that when we say we’re pro-life as Republicans, that’s all life, and an animal’s life is worth something as well,” said former Rep. Joel Rudman, a Navarre Republican, who introduced a version of the bill before he resigned to run unsuccessfully for Congress.

Rudman’s bill was scrapped and replaced with one by Republican Reps. Phillip Griffitts of Panama City, and Susan Plasencia of Winter Park. Rudman, a guitarist, said he is performing at a Feb. 13 charity event at Bowden’s in Tallahassee to raise money for the Alaqua Animal Refuge.

As Hurricane Milton approached, Aldama Garcia’s mother, Mabel Garcia Gomez, 53, had stopped their car on I-75 during the family’s evacuation to Georgia from heavy rain, letting the dog out of the vehicle, according to court records. Aldama Garcia said he last saw the dog in standing water and left it behind.

Investigators said Aldama Garcia had owned the dog, which he called Jumbo, since it was a puppy and had been trying unsuccessfully to get rid of the dog for weeks. “He could not deal with the dog,” the arrest report said.

Jessica Ellen Ospina, 36, of Apollo Beach, made the original call to law enforcement and is a witness for the prosecution in Aldama Garcia’s case.

“ If you choose to take responsibility of an animal, then you take responsibility of that animal just as you choose to take responsibility of a child,” Ospina said in a new interview this week. “And if you can’t do that, then you sure shouldn’t go tie him up to a post when a … hurricane’s coming to hit.”

The highway patrol found the dog – trembling and in distress – tied to a pole in standing water. The agency posted a video on social media showing the black-and-white dog tied in an area where flooding water almost covered its legs.

The penalties spelled out under the legislative proposals could be a deterrent, said Amy Wade-Carotenuto, executive director at the Flagler Humane Society in Palm Coast.

“​ It makes it very clear to people, ‘Don’t even think about it’.”

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Gabriel Velasquez Neira and Ella Thompson reporting via Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. The reporters can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected]. You can donate to support students here.

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Last Call – A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.

First Shot

Rep. Debbie Mayfield hasn’t given up on running for Senate District 19.

The longtime Republican lawmaker is petitioning the Florida Supreme Court to intervene and reverse the disqualification the Florida Department of State issued earlier this week.

The petition argues that Secretary of State Cord Byrd overstepped his authority when rejecting Mayfield’s paperwork, as past court rulings stated that the Secretary plays a “purely ministerial” role in the candidate qualification process.

“This is because it is well-settled that the Secretary serves a purely ministerial role in processing the Qualifying Paperwork and has no authority to determine whether the Qualifying Paperwork is accurate or whether there are grounds to challenge Mayfield’s eligibility to run in the Special Election for SD 19,” the petition reads.

The petition comes after the State Department informed Mayfield Tuesday that she could not seek election in SD 19 because she had previously represented the district for eight years, from 2016 through last year.

The law has been interpreted as applying to continuous service, not cumulative. The suit specifically notes that former Rep. James Grant’s candidacy was challenged in 2018, but courts ruled that because of a break in his tenure over an election dispute, the clock had been reset on term limits for him to hold his House seat.

The SD 19 Special Primary is scheduled for April 1. Ballots from overseas voters are expected to be sent out by Feb. 14.

Read more on Florida Politics.

Evening Reads

—“White House preparing order to cut thousands of federal health workers” via Liz Essley Whyte and Betsy McKay of The Wall Street Journal

—”Donald Trump wants L.A. wildfire aid to create a model for disaster blackmail” via Asawin Suebsaeng of Rolling Stone

—”IRS workers involved in 2025 tax season can’t take buyout until after the taxpayer filing deadline” via Fatima Hussein of The Associated Press

—”The blatant lie behind Elon Musk’s power grab” via Eric Levitz of Vox

—”Musk’s DOGE is feeding sensitive federal data into AI to target cuts” via Hannah Natanson, Gerrit De Vynck, Elizabeth Dwoskin and Danielle Douglas-Gabriel of The Washington Post

—”Trump’s assault on USAID makes Project 2025 look like child’s play” via Russell Berman of The Atlantic

—”Trump digs In on Gaza takeover and Palestinian resettlement” via By Aaron Boxerman of The New York Times

—”The U.S. is having its mildest COVID winter yet” via Francesca Paris of The New York Times

—”Ron DeSantis avoids taking stand on Trump move to end temporary protections for Venezuelans in U.S.” via Anthony Man of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

—”Debbie Mayfield asks Florida Supreme Court to intervene in disqualification from SD 19 Special Election” via Jacob Ogles of Florida Politics

Quote of the Day

“It is still lore back in Florida when she went into lawmakers’ chambers and said, this amount of fentanyl will kill you.”

— U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, on now-U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Put it on the Tab

Look to your left, then look to your right. If you see one of these people at your happy hour haunt, flag down the bartender and put one of these on your tab. Recipes included, just in case the Cocktail Codex fell into the well.

Gov. Ron DeSantis isn’t worried about the feds gutting disaster response — in fact, he’d prefer the FEMA Martinis to stop flowing in favor of a boring old block grant.

How about a Kind of Blue for the House Democratic Caucus’ new leadership team? Note how the drink is actually quite red … just like the Florida House.

Hold off for now, but if Mayfield’s court petition gets her onto the SD 19 ballot, she’s due for a Buzzer Beater.

Breakthrough Insights

Tune In

Gators aim for No. 1 Auburn

The Florida Gators travel to Auburn to face the top-ranked Tigers on Saturday (4 p.m. ET, ESPN2).

Florida (19-3, 6-3 SEC) is ranked sixth in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll and is coming off an 86-75 win over Vanderbilt on Tuesday night in Gainesville. Playing without leading scorer Walter Clayton Jr., the Gators got 21 points from Will Richard, including five three-pointers and 19 points from Alex Condon. The victory came on the heels of a loss to #8 Tennessee last Saturday.

Saturday’s matchup in Auburn is the Gators’ second game this year against a team ranked at the top of the poll. Florida dominated then-number one Tennessee 73-43 on Jan. 7 in the most impressive victory of the season. 

Auburn (21-1, 9-0) has won 14 straight games since the Tigers’ only season loss on Dec. 4 against Duke. Auburn opened the season ranked #11 and rose to the top spot in mid-January. Five Tigers average double figures in scoring, led by Johni Broome (18.1 points per game). Tahaad Pettiford is one of the best sixth men in the nation, averaging 11.5 points off the bench.  Auburn ranks eighth nationally, averaging 85.1 points per game. Broome ranks fifth in the nation, grabbing 10.9 rebounds per game. 

After Saturday’s game, Florida has eight more regular-season games on the schedule, but none against ranked teams.

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Last Call is published by Peter Schorsch, assembled and edited by Phil Ammann and Drew Wilson, with contributions from the staff of Florida Politics.

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