{"id":383162,"date":"2026-08-28T02:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T02:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/383162\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T02:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T02:46:09","slug":"florida-air-conditioning-tech-charged-with-animal-cruelty-for-kicking-customers-chihuahua-until-it-was-unconscious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/383162\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Air Conditioning Tech Charged with Animal Cruelty for Kicking Customer\u2019s Chihuahua Until It Was \u2018Unconscious\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEED TO KNOW<\/p>\n

An HVAC technician was arrested after video allegedly showed him kicking a customer’s Chihuahua unconscious<\/p>\n

The Sanford Police Department identified Richardson Noel as the person in custody<\/p>\n

The incident was captured on a Furbo dog treat dispenser camera while Noel was servicing the home<\/p>\n

A Florida air conditioning tech has been charged with animal cruelty after he was allegedly caught on video violently kicking a small dog while working at a client’s home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Aug. 27, the Sanford Police Department announced<\/a> that Richardson Noel, 43, had been arrested on charges of aggravated animal cruelty. Police say a Furbo dog treat dispenser in the living room of the home was equipped with a camera, which allegedly captured Noel kicking the family’s Chihuahua until the animal was “unconscious,” according to the statement.<\/p>\n

A video, with a “sensitive content” warning, showed the canine in the living room, barking at Noel, who was in the yard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is unclear how long the dog was barking before Noel entered the living room through a sliding door and allegedly kicked the Chihuahua, causing the dog to slide across the floor and land on its side.<\/p>\n

\"Dog<\/p>\n

Dog allegedly kicked by Richardson Noel
Credit: Sanford Police Department\/Facebook<\/p>\n

No more barking was heard from the dog, which remained unconscious for a “significant period of time,” following the kick, police said.<\/p>\n

“It is deeply disturbing that someone entrusted with entering a person’s home to complete a service would violate that trust by viciously injuring a defenseless animal,” Sanford Police Chief Cecil Smith said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“The video is difficult to watch and shows the callousness of this individual,” the police chief added.<\/p>\n

SPD did not disclose the name of the company where the HVAC technician was employed.<\/p>\n

The incident happened just before 11:30 a.m. local time on Monday, Aug. 24, according to a date and time stamp on the Furbo footage. Police were made aware of the incident on Wednesday, Aug. 25.<\/p>\n

Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\n

Noel was arrested on Thursday. It is not immediately known if he has obtained legal counsel.<\/p>\n

Investigators are asking anyone with additional information about this incident to please contact the Sanford Police Department or Crimeline at 800 423-TIPS (8477) or visit crimeline.org<\/a>. Calls made to Crimeline remain anonymous.<\/p>\n

Read the original article on People<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEED TO KNOW An HVAC technician was arrested after video allegedly showed him kicking a customer’s Chihuahua unconscious…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383163,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,152677,153655,135772,89552,153656],"class_list":["post-383162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-noel","tag-richardson-noel","tag-sanford-police","tag-sanford-police-department","tag-the-sanford-police-department"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}