FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Lee County Sheriff's Office received a call about a dog limping through traffic on North Clevland Avenue on Monday
According to deputies, the incident occurred about 7:30 p.m. Lee County's Animal Cruelty Task Force, North District Criminal Investigations Division, Lee County Domestic Animal Services and crime scene investigators all responded to the scene.
When they arrived at the location, Paco, a terrier mix, was found with his legs and snout bound with duct tape.
After taking Paco to Domestic Animal Service for medical evaluation, deputies and detectives asked around the area for any information they could get on the dog's owner.
They identified Paco's 25-year-old owner — Emerito Marquez, who deputies said has a criminal history as a documented gang member with 23 arrests.
Detectives found enough evidence to arrest Marquez on a charge of felony animal cruelty.
"He has 23 arrests, documented gang member with felony criminal history this has been his life of crime. If this garbage can do this to a defenseless dog what would he do to a child or another person. This behavior always escalates to something more violent, this is pure evil. This is not a human that does this to a defenseless animal this person has no blood in his veins, has no heart this is the making of a serial killer this is the making of someone that can further go on to abuse humans much worse." — Sheriff Carmine Marceno
When Sheriff Carmine Marceno went to check on Paco on Tuesday, he described that even though the tape was removed there was still adhesive from the duct tape stuck to the dog's legs and along his snout.
Marceno said that Paco is acting normal and will be able to make a full recovery.
Deputies already put into place a petition to the courts to go through the judicial system to make sure the dog doesn't go back to the owner who did this.