{"id":9385,"date":"2025-10-18T04:41:37","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T04:41:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/9385\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T04:41:37","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T04:41:37","slug":"charges-dropped-against-man-accused-of-leaving-dog-tied-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/9385\/","title":{"rendered":"Charges dropped against man accused of leaving dog tied up"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA, Fla. \u2013 Charges have been dropped against a Hillsborough County man who was accused of leaving a dog tied up as Hurricane Milton approached the area last year.<\/a><\/p>\n

According to documents, charges were dropped due to insufficient evidence. The charges against Giovanny Aldama Garcia, of Ruskin, were dropped this week.<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know<\/p>\n

Charges have been dropped against a Hillsborough County man who was accused of leaving a dog tied up as Hurricane Milton approached
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Charges were dropped due to insufficient evidence. The charges against Giovanny Aldama Garcia, of Ruskin, were dropped this week
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\u201cTrooper\u2019s Law\u201d<\/a> makes it a third-degree felony for anyone to restrain or abandon a dog during a declared disaster or evacuation<\/p>\n

He was facing charges of aggravated animal cruelty after\u00a0he admitted to leaving his dog on the side of the road.<\/p>\n

Florida State Highway Patrol troopers found the dog near Bruce B. Downs Boulevard and I-75 hours before the storm hit.<\/p>\n

Garcia said he was driving to Georgia to escape the hurricane but left \u201cJumbo\u201d behind because he couldn\u2019t find anyone to pick the dog up.<\/p>\n

The dog was later adopted by a new family and named \u201cTrooper.\u201d<\/p>\n

The incident spurred new legislation to protect animals.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrooper\u2019s Law\u201d makes it a third-degree felony<\/a> for anyone to restrain or abandon a dog during a declared disaster or evacuation.<\/p>\n

On the charges being dropped against Garcia, the State Attorney\u2019s Office released the following statement:<\/p>\n

During the deposition and discovery process in this case, we determined that we did not have sufficient evidence to prove that the defendant intentionally tied the dog to the fence in rising flood waters. While this case stirs many emotions and even ethical questions, we do not have a good-faith basis to continue this prosecution. While it was initially reported that the dog was tied to the fence with a rope, we have insufficient evidence to support that allegation. As a result, we cannot meet our burden of proving aggravated animal cruelty beyond a reasonable doubt.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite this outcome regarding the prosecution, Trooper the dog and his story has led to real, positive change. Trooper has a loving new home, and \u201cTrooper\u2019s Law\u201d now makes it a felony to abandon a restrained animal during a natural disaster. We will always stand up for our community\u2019s most vulnerable victims including children, the elderly, and animals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2013 Charges have been dropped against a Hillsborough County man who was accused of leaving a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[274,28,30,29,2287,115,139,277,275,135,278],"class_list":{"0":"post-9385","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-app-top-stories","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-florida-headlines","11":"tag-florida-news","12":"tag-local-politics","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-orlando","15":"tag-public-safety","16":"tag-spectrum-news-staff","17":"tag-tampa","18":"tag-top-stories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9385","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=9385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}