A Puppy Named Ponce Inspired A New Florida Law

TAMPA BAY, FL -- It’s too late for Denali and Diamond.

Denali, a Staffordshire terrier, suffered excruciating pain from third-degree burns after being doused with gasoline and locked in a home that was intentionally set on fire. After several surgeries and weeks of around-the-clock care, she is just beginning to heal.

Diamond, a tiny Chihuahua, was sealed in a garbage bag and deposited in a Winter Haven Dumpster. By the time her weak yelps for help were heard, she'd been sweltering in the suffocating garbage bag for hours. She died shortly after she was found.

But a new law that went into effect Oct. 1 will allow judges to keep pets out of the hands of habitual animal abusers and prevent the suffering that Denali and Diamond endured.

Essentially, Ponce's Law gives the courts the ability to impose more jail time for those convicted of animal cruelty and to prevent them from owning pets once they are released.

A puppy named Ponce was the inspiration for the law.

Ponce, a 9-month-old Labrador retriever, was found dead in his owner’s back yard in Volusia County. Law enforcement officials said the dog was beaten so badly it looked as if it had been hit by a truck.

Following approval by the Florida Legislature, Gov. Rick Scott signed Ponce's Law in March.

“Ponce’s Law increases criminal penalties for those who abuse animals," said Scott. "Law enforcement now has the needed tools to protect Florida’s animals."

In recent weeks, several reports of animal cruelty have outraged Tampa Bay residents.

On Aug. 25, the Pasco County Sheriff's Office said Lutz resident Brandi Corrigan burned down her house in an act of revenge against her estranged husband, who is in Iraq working for a private contractor.

Before setting the house on fire, Pasco County Sheriff’s deputies said Corrigan doused two of her seven dogs with gasoline and locked them in the house.

One of the dogs, Denali, sustained life-threatening third-degree burns. The other dog locked in the house, Esco, also sustained severe burns, though not as serious as Denali’s.

The Pasco Sheriff’s Office originally charged Corrigan with felony arson and possession of drugs. But on Sept. 14, the State Attorney’s Office added felony animal cruelty charges after reviewing the fire arson investigator's report (see related story).

The investigator concluded that Corrigan had “intentionally poured an ignitable liquid, later confirmed as gasoline by the state lab, on the dogs, causing severe burns and thermal injuries which required extensive medical treatment and repeated surgeries,” wrote the fire arson investigator. “This act caused excessive, unnecessary pain and suffering to the canines.”

Corrigan has been in the Land O’ Lakes Detention Center. Her request for a hearing to reduce her bail of $55,000 was moved to Oct. 11 at 2 p.m. before Judge Susan Barthle. She has entered a not guilty plea and has requested a jury trial.

Residents were both puzzled and incensed upon hearing the story of Diamond, a tiny Chihuahua that suffered a slow, tortured death after her Winter Haven owner reportedly sealed her in a trash bag and placed her in a Dumpster.

Diamond, who wearing a dainty pink collar when she was found, was micro-chipped, allowing the Polk County Sheriff’s Office to track down her owner, Shawkimo Anderson, 41.

Anderson, who had owned the dog for four years, told sheriff’s deputies that she gave Diamond to a woman two months ago. Deputies didn't believe her story. She finally admitted that she placed the little dog in the Dumpster because she could no longer take care of her (see related story).

That explanation confounded Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.

“I don’t know how anyone could do this to a pet,” Judd said. “This woman stuffed an innocent creature into a bag and left it to die when all she had to do was give it to someone or surrender it to Animal Control, no questions asked. Because of her selfish action, the dog has now passed away.”

Anderson was arrested and charged with aggravated animal cruelty on Sept. 22. Although she claimed she couldn’t afford to care for her dog anymore, she managed to post the $1,000 bail required to get out of jail the following day.

Humane Society of Tampa Bay Executive Director Sherry Silk has heard umpteen stories similar to Denali's and Diamond's over the years. She believes Ponce's law will law enforcement agencies additional ammunition necessary to prevent habitual abusers from owning pets.

“I’m glad to see Florida tightening up on cruelty laws,” she said. “This is another tool we can use against animal abusers. So often, people accused of animal cruelty plead out and end up doing no jail time. Then they turn around and get another pet."

But she added that the new is only effective if it's enforced.

“If you don’t have agents to check and make sure these people don’t own pets, it’s not going to help the situation,” she said. “We can pass cruelty laws but the counties don’t have the money to enforce them.”

She would have preferred the state pass a law requiring convicted animal abusers to register is already required in Hillsborough County.

An Animal Abuser Registry Ordinance, the first in the state, was passed by the Hillsborough County Commission in 2016. She said that ordinance has been a big help to the county's animal rescue groups.

The ordinance requires anyone who has been convicted of animal abuse to register with the county within 10 days after he or she is released from jail. The ordinance prohibits those on the registry from “adopting, purchasing, possessing or otherwise obtaining certain animals from any animal shelter, pet seller or other person involved in the exchange of animals.”

Those on the registry aren’t even permitted to live in the same house with a pet or work around animals.

“If you’re convicted, you’re put on the registry,” said Silk. “Animal rescue groups can then go online and check to see if any person wanting to adopt an animal has a history of animal abuse."

Pet Resource Center Director agrees Scott Trebatoski that Hillsborough County leads the pack in taking measures to monitor animal abusers and that, ideally, Florida should have a statewide registry that will prevent a chronic abuser from going across the county line to adopt another pet.

But the state's actions, he said, have given animal abuse laws more teeth. He said his animal control officers are often frustrated because, by the time the case against an abuser makes its way through the process, the abuser is given a slap on the wrist. Prosecutors are overwhelmed by cases in which the victims are human and simply don't have the time to spend on animal abuse cases.

This law, he said, sends the message that the state takes animal abuse seriously.

"It helps clarify for judges exactly how important this is," he said. "And it helps us have more success in the cases we do.

He added that Florida is one of only six states in the country to adopt this kind of law to protect animals. "It's huge, especially considering where we were a decade ago," he said. "This is the wave of the future."

While the life of an animal is considered less significant than that of a human, Trebatoski said there's another reason to get tough when it comes to animal abuse: Habitual animal abuse is often a precursor to serial killing.

"The earlier that you catch animal abusers, the better the chance of having these people in your sights before they graduate to killing people," he said.

So far, Marion County is the only other county in Florida to follow Hillsborough County's lead.

But Silk said the best instrument to fight animal abuse isn't necessarily a new law or ordinance. It's the public.

"I think most people love animals and they're sensitive to animals being abused," she said. "We get calls all the time from people reporting animal cruelty. I think enough cases of cruelty have been publicized to educate people on what to look for, and they don't hesitate to call law enforcement."

Such was the case on Saturday, Sept. 29. Residents of a Holiday neighborhood called the Pasco County Sheriff's Office about possible animal abuse (see related story).

When deputies responded, they found 46 cats and 1 dog locked in a U-Haul truck with no food, water or ventilation. They said the temperature inside the truck would have eventually killed the hapless pets.

"Law enforcement can't be everywhere," Silk said. "People need to be the eyes and ears for animals."

Images via Suncoast Animal League, Polk Sheriff