Rony Arturo Garcia, 28, has been charged with Aggravated Cruelty to Animals as a third degree felony, per court records.
A man who police say killed a dog nearly four years ago in upper Bucks County was recently arrested on a felony charge of aggravated cruelty to animals.
In an updated news release published on their Crimewatch site Monday, Hilltown Township Police said 28-year-old Rony Arturo Garcia was living in the 1400 block of Rt. 113, Perkasie, when officers responded to the home for a report of a man “threatening members of the household, and who had possibly killed the family’s pet dog” on Feb. 3, 2018. They said that upon arriving at the house, officers determined that the family was unharmed, but found a dead dog on the property.
“Through a joint investigation along with the Bucks County SPCA it was determined the dog suffered multiple skull fractures as a result of blunt force trauma,” police said.
A felony arrest warrant for Aggravated Cruelty to Animals-Causing Serious Bodily Injury or Death was then issued for Garcia, who police said they feared might be attempting to flee to his native Honduras.
It was unclear from Monday’s news release whether police believe that Garcia ever left the United States, but they said that on June 1, 2021, he was arrested by law enforcement agents in the Village of Monroe in Orange County, N.Y.
“He was then later transported to Bucks County Correctional Facility,” the news release said.
According to court documents, following a Jan. 12 preliminary arraignment on the animal cruelty charge, Bucks County District Judge Mark Douple committed Garcia to the Bucks County Correctional Institution in lieu of 10 percent of $15,000 bail, where he remained incarcerated as of Monday.
A preliminary hearing before District Judge Regina Armitage is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 15 at 1 p.m., according to the court docket filed in Garcia’s case.
Garcia is represented by attorney Michael Parlow of Parlow & Lang LLC in Bensalem, according to the docket.
Note: All individuals charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. This story was compiled using information from Hilltown Township Police and Bucks County court records.
