Politics
New owner of dog Trooper abandoned in hurricane angry over prosecutors dropping case
A Florida prosecutor has dropped the felony criminal case against the man who drew national attention after being accused of tying his bull terrier dog to a fence along Interstate 75 and abandoning it in the face of an approaching major hurricane. The dog’s new owner is furious.
Giovanny Aldama Garcia, 24, of Ruskin, was facing a felony charge of aggravated animal cruelty. The Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office, led by Susan Lopez, suddenly dropped the case this week.
Last year, Gov. Ron DeSantis had called the dog’s treatment “unacceptable,” and warned the person accused of abandoning the dog, “We’re going to hold you accountable.”
Lopez, the elected state prosecutor whose office was handling the case, had said she couldn’t imagine anyone tying a pet to a fence amid a natural disaster. Ahead of a criminal trial in the case, expected to begin late this year or early in 2026, prosecutors filed paperwork on Wednesday abandoning the case.
The dog — now known as Trooper after the Florida Highway Patrol officer who rescued him — was adopted by Frank and Carla Spina of Parkland. In a new interview Thursday night, Frank Spina said Lopez personally called to tell him the state was dropping the case — an act he said was “chickening out.”
He said that during the call, Lopez said prosecutors had little to no evidence that Aldama Garcia had tied the dog to a pole and cited a language barrier between him and investigators.
Court records showed that during questioning, Aldama Garcia acknowledged dumping the dog on the side of the interstate during the evacuation ahead of Hurricane Milton and said he had been trying unsuccessfully to get rid of the dog for weeks.
“The defendant stated he observed the dog in standing water in heavy rain during a hurricane evacuation and left him behind,” the trooper wrote in his arrest report.
Spina said he was flabbergasted: “Well, did he tie himself? Did Trooper tie himself? Put it in front of a jury and ask ‘Do you believe Trooper the dog tied himself to a pole?’”
Spina said just two months ago, the state attorney’s office called this its most important case. Now, he believes Lopez was afraid she would lose if the case went to trial.
“It’s politics. It’s being afraid to lose the big case on TV,” he said in a phone interview with Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.
The prosecutor did not immediately return a phone message to her office late Thursday.
Last week, Aldama Garcia’s defense attorney, Tony Lopez of Tampa, said in an interview that a plea deal was out of the question, unless the state would seek a lesser criminal charge. If it didn’t, he said, he planned to take the matter to trial.
“It’s based on lies,” Tony Lopez said in the interview. “He had to quit his college, he was kicked out of his job, he had to change numbers. All because someone misquoted what happened.”
He said the state can’t prove that Aldama Garcia abused or intentionally harmed his dog.
Lopez, the defense lawyer, didn’t immediately respond to a phone message late Thursday.
Spina said Florida lawmakers were outraged enough over the suspected abuse to demand a change in law.
Those efforts resulted in Trooper’s Law, which makes it illegal to abandon a dog that is restrained during a natural disaster. It also imposed a fine up to $10,000 and a prison term up to five years — what Aldama Garcia was previously facing, if convicted.
“We all got this law passed, and for what?” Spina said. “Just for the prosecutor’s office to throw in the towel and say, ‘Oh, well, he had a language barrier, and we can’t prove that he tied him to a fence.’”
“I’m really disgusted.”
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This story was produced by Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. The reporter can be reached at [email protected]. You can donate to support our students here.
U.S. Rep. Jimmy Patronis is on board with a movement to reduce the impacts of the Clean Water Act and ease some restrictions on development.
Patronis, a Republican in Florida’s 1st Congressional District in the Panhandle, voted with many of his colleagues in favor of the Promoting Efficient Review for Modern Infrastructure Today (PERMIT Act HR 3893). Many Republicans say the proposed measure is designed to “reduce red tape.”
The proposal “eliminated duplicative and costly Clean Water Act permit requirements that do not improve environmental safety,” according to a House GOP statement.
The PERMIT Act, drafted by U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, a Georgia Republican, would also provide amendments to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.
Patronis voted in favor of the measure, saying it’s long overdue.
“I am honored to support the passage of the PERMIT Act that will streamline … permitting, while ensuring the environment is protected,” Patronis said. “We must keep the government out of our backyards and restore power to the states.”
The measure has yet to go to the full floor of the U.S. Senate for consideration.
But the bill, according to supporters, reduces costly project delays and unnecessary litigation. It provides certainty to infrastructure builders, farmers, water utilities and small businesses, according to wording in the measure.
The bill would limit the scope of the Clean Water Act, which was originally approved by Congress in 1972. When it comes to permitting under the Clean Water Act, the new measure Patronis supports would exclude waste treatment systems, prior converted cropland, groundwater, or features that are determined to be excluded by the U.S. Army Corps Engineers.
While conservatives in Congress support the PERMIT Act, the measure has drawn criticism from environmental activist organizations.
The Hydropower Reform Coalition assailed the proposal for what it says undercuts long-standing environmental protections for many of America’s waterways.
“This prevents states from considering upstream, downstream, or cumulative impacts of projects like dams, pipelines, or large-scale developments,” a Coalition analysis said. “Enforcement authority would rest only with federal permitting agencies, leaving states unable to enforce the very conditions they might place on a project.”
Former prosecutor Robin Peguero just landed an endorsement from Miami-Dade County School Board member Joe Geller as Peguero seeks to supplant Republican U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar.
Geller, who previously served in the Florida House, as Mayor of North Bay and as Chair of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party, said in a statement that Peguero “will fight for you and me in Congress.”
“Robin will fight for lower costs and affordable healthcare and housing. He’ll fight to defend the rule of law and our democracy. He’ll fight to give all our families a fair shot at the American Dream,” Geller said.
“Robin will take back this seat in Congress — and I’m proud to endorse him.”
The nod from Geller joins others from Key Biscayne Council member Franklin Caplan, Coral Gables Commissioner Melissa Castro, Cutler Bay Council member B.J. Duncan, former U.S. Rep. Donna Shalala, former state Reps. Annie Betancourt and J.C. Planas, and ex-Key Biscayne Mayor Mike Davey, who withdrew from the race for Florida’s 27th Congressional District and immediately endorsed Peguero in August.
Peguero also carries support from CHC Bold PAC, the campaign apparatus of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which prioritizes increasing Latino representation in Congress.
A former federal homicide prosecutor born to immigrant parents from the Dominican Republic and Ecuador, Peguero’s government bona fides include a stint as an investigator for the congressional Jan. 6 Committee and work as Chief of Staff to U.S. Rep. Glenn Ivey, a Maryland Democrat.
Today, he works as a novelist and professor at St. Thomas University College of Law.
Peguero will face at least two CD 27 Primary opponents: accountant Alexander Fornino and entrepreneur Richard Lamondin.
Through the last reporting period that ended Sept. 30, Peguero raised $330,000, while Lamondin amassed $453,000 and Fornino collected $25,000.
Salazar, meanwhile, has amassed $681,000 since winning re-election to a third term last year by 21 percentage points. She also has more than $1.64 million in reserve, Federal Election Commission records show.
CD 27 — one of three Florida districts that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has highlighted as “in play” — covers Miami, Coral Gables, Cutler Bay, Key Biscayne, Pinecrest, North Bay Village, South Miami, West Miami and several unincorporated areas.
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