Deltona Teen Charged With Aggravated Animal Cruelty In Abuse Of Dog

Date Added: April 03, 2023 8:27 pm

Andrew Gant
Office of Public Affairs & Media Relations

DELTONA TEEN CHARGED WITH AGGRAVATED ANIMAL CRUELTY IN ABUSE OF DOG

A 17-year-old in Deltona has been charged with aggravated animal cruelty following an incident caught on a security camera in the neighborhood.

Deputies arrested the teenager on the felony charge today after being notified of the case by Deltona Animal Control, which had received the video from a concerned resident this weekend.

The video, timestamped the night of March 14, showed the defendant going into a neighbor’s yard on Covington Drive to retrieve his dog after it ran away. He picked up the dog by the neck and carried it back toward his house, where he lifted it in the air and slammed it to the ground. He straddled the dog, began punching it in the face and head again and again, then grabbed its head and slammed it into the ground multiple times. The video footage was accompanied by audio, which recorded the dog yelping during the abuse.

Deltona Animal Control took custody of the dog and took it to a local animal hospital for examination.

The defendant’s grandmother confirmed she witnessed the incident and informed deputies she told her grandson to stop hurting the dog. She said she disciplined her grandson after the incident.

He was taken into custody today and transported to the Family Resource Center for processing of his felony charge. Following processing he was released to his grandmother’s custody by the Department of Juvenile Justice.