BOCA RATON, Fla. — A South Florida dog groomer pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty and was sentenced to six months in jail.
Plinio Roberto De Camargo Jr., 48, of Boca Raton, entered the plea Thursday in the Palm Beach County Courthouse.
County Judge Sherri Collins said two of the months in jail "may be in house arest." She also ordered 12 months probaton after the sentence is completed as well as 100 communtiy hours and apology letters to all victims.
Camargo was arrested on October 28, 2022.
A Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control officer received a phone call four days earlier from a man regarding allegations of animal abuse by a groomer at American Dog Pet Grooming in Boca Raton at 18th Street shopping plaza, known as “The Boardwalk”
The man, who was calling on behalf of his wife who only speaks Portuguese, sent the officer five videos.
According to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, the videos show the suspect, one of the co-owners of the business, abusing dogs.
According to an arrest affidavit, the videos show Camargo "manhandling" dogs, striking some with a closed fist punch, twisting a dog's hair, picking up a dog only by holding its hair, and pulling a dog's hair "in a cruel and inhumane manner".
Stephen Spiegel, a customer of American Dog Pet Grooming had been taking his dog there since 2020.
"We really like the people that run it and we’ve been happy with the service," Spiegel told WPTV "I don’t think I'll be running anywhere else. They seem like nice people so I like to support them but I’d like to find out more because our dog is very important to us."
His wife and co-owner, Alessandra Bresciani Barreto, of Deerfield Beach, was found guilty Tuesday of five county animal infractions of providing proper animal care/manner of keeping.
American Dog Pet Grooming is no longer listed as open.