Florida couple charged for impersonating veterinarians

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This article was published 29/05/2018 (3001 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MIAMI — It was supposed to be a simple procedure.

Royalty, a 12-year-old American bulldog, was set to get neutered. His owner, Omarnestor Delrio, made an appointment and was ready to pay.

But police say the veterinary clinic wasn’t actually a clinic, and the vet was a fraud.

Now, Jose Alvarez-Marrero, 58, and his girlfriend Sophia Gonzalez, 40, face one charge of animal cruelty and another charge of practising veterinary medicine without a licence. Gonzalez was booked into the Miami-Dade County jail last week. Alvarez-Marrero is at large, police in Hialeah, Fla., say.

According to the arrest report, the duo transformed their Hialeah apartment into a makeshift veterinary clinic. On April 23, Delrio took Royalty to be neutered.

Royalty was given anesthetic in the living room. When it began to take effect, the dog was placed on a folding table, an officer wrote in the report. Police say that was when Gonzalez and Alvarez-Marrero began the procedure.

During the procedure, “the victim noticed a spurt of blood (into) the air,” the officer wrote. “Next, Royalty was sutured but began to swell around his removed testicle area. Due to the swelling, (Alvarez-Marrero) reopened Royalty and began to work in the area.”

According to the report, Royalty showed signs of pain, so the dog was given more anesthetic.

Delrio was given instructions on how to care for the wound, including being told to “place a pair of pants on Royalty to prevent him from licking the wound.” Two days later, Delrio became concerned and called Alvarez-Marrero because Royalty wasn’t eating or drinking, and wasn’t “recuperating at the pace he expected him to recover.” After multiple trips back to see Alvarez-Marrero, Delrio took Royalty to a Knowles Animal Clinic in Miami.

“The victim was advised by veterinary staff that whoever conducted the procedure on Royalty was beyond medical malpractice. That is pure animal cruelty,” an officer wrote in the report.

Royalty died April 30, one week after his surgery. The veterinarian at Knowles ruled the dog’s death was caused by an “unsteril(e) surgical procedure.”

On Wednesday, Hialeah police and Miami-Dade Animal Services executed a search warrant at the apartment in Hialeah. Officers were met by Gonzalez, who said she lived there with her boyfriend.

A call to Miami-Dade Animal Services wasn’t immediately returned Thursday night.

“Jose Alvarez-Marrero was not home at the time and spoke with detectives over the phone,” Hialeah police spokesman Eddie Rodriguez said via email. “(He) told detectives he was on his way home to speak with them, but never arrived. Jose Alvarez-Marrero remains at large.”

— Miami Herald