SAN ANTONIO – Deputies have arrested a 22-year-old woman after investigators said they found a dog severely underweight and living in unsanitary conditions on an apartment patio in the 5500 block of Mansion Bluff.
On Wednesday, March 18, 2026, Bexar County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a report of a dog being left outside on a balcony.
Deputies said they spoke with the dog’s owner, Giovanni Leija, who told them she had owned the dog for about five years.
According to deputies, Leija said she cared for the dog and fed it every morning before going to work, and that the dog was usually kept inside. Deputies said Leija told them that while she was at work, the dog stayed on the patio.
When deputies went into the apartment, they reported seeing a male pit bull/boxer mix that appeared very thin, with its ribs and hip bones showing. Deputies also said they found two empty, dry bowls on the patio, along with “many piles of feces on the ground,” which they said indicated the dog had been using the patio for a long time.
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A BCSO Animal Control Officer responded to the scene and checked the dog, deputies said. The officer said the dog was underweight and estimated it was about six to seven years old based on gray hair around its muzzle.
Deputies said the dog’s thin condition, the feces on the patio and the empty water bowls gave them reason to make an arrest. Deputies also reported that Leija said she had been forgetting to feed the dog.
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Leija was arrested on an animal cruelty charge and taken to the Bexar County Adult Detention Center, according to deputies.