PORT ST. LUCIE – A 19-year-old Port St. Lucie man remains in the St. Lucie County Jail as of March 6, charged with cruelty to animals in the case of a pet Chihuahua that was found dead in a nearby river.

Evan Thomas Pavone, 19, of the 400 block of Southeast Tranquilla Ave., Port St. Lucie, was arrested by a St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office deputy after it was believed Pavone was responsible causing the death of a Chihuahua, owned by his mother, Danielle Pavon, according to a sheriff’s office arrest affidavit.

At about 9 a.m., March 2, a county maintenance worker told a deputy that a man walking his dog near the river at River Park Marina in the 500 block of Southwest Prima Vista Boulevard, Port St. Lucie told the worker that he saw a backpack in the river, according to the arrest affidavit.

The maintenance worker found the backpack and pulled it from the water. Upon opening it, the worker discovered a deceased Chihuahua in a plastic bag and a 25-pound dumbbell inside the backpack, according to the arrest affidavit.

The maintenance worker also told the deputy that he saw a man, described as white in his early teens, with medium-length hair, wearing a red shirt and red shorts carrying a backpack in the vicinity of where the backpack was found.

A microchip scan subsequently showed that the dog was owned by Danielle Pavone of the 400 block of SE Tranquilla Avenue in Port St. Lucie. A necropsy would have to be performed on the dog to determine if it was alive or dead before it was put in the river, a deputy wrote in his report.

Danielle Pavone told investigators that the dog was hers and that when she returned home, she looked for the dog and was told by her son, Evan Pavone, that the dog was not there, according to the arrest affidavit.

Danielle Pavone told deputies that she believed her son, who has mental health issues, was responsible for the dog’s death because he told her earlier that he wanted the dog to stop barking and that he took the dog to the marina, according to the arrest affidavit.

Deputies then arrested Evan Pavone, who said he did not want to talk about the incident, at his home.

Evan Pavone is in the St. Lucie County Jail on a $15,00 bond as of March 6 for causing the death of an animal by inflicting pain and suffering.