SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A judge has charged the owner and two employees of a city contractor with animal cruelty after the company allegedly took pets from a public housing project and hurled them off a bridge.
Julio Diaz, the owner of Animal Control Solutions, and workers Lucas Montano Rivera, 18, and Roberto Rodriguez Ceballo, 28, were each charged with three counts of violations of the U.S. territory’s laws against animal cruelty. Charges also were filed against the company.
The three defendants, who face maximum prison terms of nine years, were released Wednesday evening after each posted a $3,000 bond.
“We are going to prove that we are not guilty,” Diaz said as he left the court in suburban San Juan.
The charges involve the October massacre of pets seized by municipal officials and animal-control workers from three housing projects in the town of Barceloneta under city rules prohibiting pets in the projects.
About 80 pets were seized, and only a half-dozen survived the 50-foot fall from the bridge, some with serious injuries. The dogs and cats apparently were drugged before they were killed.
Jose Arzola Mendez, attorney for the animal-control employees, Montano and Rodriguez, said there was no evidence linking them to the pet massacre and said dogs and cats were confiscated by municipal employees of Barceloneta.
