LIGHTHOUSE POINT, Fla. – A Lighthouse Point man was caught on Ring doorbell camera video hitting a dog in the face at least a dozen times with a sandal as she whimpered in pain, according to the city’s police department.
According to an arrest report obtained by Local 10 News on Tuesday, video from last Wednesday showed Jefferson Fogaca walking with the dog in the rear parking lot of Bateman, Gordon & Sands Inc. Insurance at 3050 N. Federal Highway, near his home. At some point, police said the dog began “dragging her rear legs and resisting” Fogaca.
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That prompted Fogaca, 42, to hit the dog in the face with the sandal four times, police said.
“Each impact is audible and causes the dog to cry and whimper,” Lighthouse Point Police Department Detective Kyle Kay wrote in the report.
Police said Fogaca then dragged the dog by her collar across the parking lot and hit her in the face with the sandal another eight times, causing “clear signs of distress and pain.”
The report states Fogaca and the dog then moved out of the camera’s view.
“Although no longer visible, the audio continues to capture the sound of the defendant striking the dog,” Kay wrote. “The dog’s cries and whimpers continue and indicate that the abuse persisted off-camera.”
The report doesn’t make clear who reported the alleged abuse, but police said they were able to track Fogaca down to his home on Northeast 19th Terrace.
Police said he admitted to being in the video, “but claimed he only remembered doing so a few times” and said “his actions were driven by fear that the dog might run away.”
The report states that a neighbor confirmed she “heard a dog crying loudly on the day of the incident” and said she saw Fogaca, whom she’s familiar with, “walking past her apartment with the white dog.”
She “reported that the dog was audibly crying and appeared to be in pain,” police added.
Fogaca was arrested on a felony animal cruelty charge on Friday. He would later be released on a $2,500 bond, court records show.