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Teen's boast leads to dog abuse arrest

A Crystal Springs boy already in custody bragged he left the dog called Miracle with her jaw and tongue bound in rubber bands.

By JAMAL THALJI
Published February 8, 2006

	[Times photo: Zach Boyden-Holmes]
	Gary Franckewich embraces Miracle on Tuesday at the Crystal Springs Veterinary Clinic. Franckewich found the tortured and starved puppy Dec. 5. Pasco County sheriff's deputies arrested a 14-year-old Crystal Springs boy Tuesday afternoon on charges of felony animal cruelty.

CRYSTAL SPRINGS - He bragged about it.

That's what authorities said led them to the suspected torturer of Miracle, the starving puppy found in December, with her tongue left sticking out of her rubber band-clamped jaws.

"Hey, did you see that puppy on the news?" boasted the suspect, according to Animal Control Officer Tim Harris. "I did that."

It was talk from a 14-year-old Crystal Springs boy, whom authorities say bragged to witnesses of wrapping the helpless pit bullterrier's jaws so tightly around her outstretched tongue she went without food or water for four to six days.

It was an ordeal that left the dog near death, led to the partial amputation of her tongue, outraged a community, turned the frightened, abused puppy into a media celebrity and led Tuesday to a felony charge of animal cruelty.

The defendant, whose name the St. Petersburg Times is withholding because of his age, was arrested Tuesday at the Juvenile Detention Center. He was being held there on a July charge of armed burglary; authorities accused him of breaking into a Crystal Springs home with other teens and leaving with two firearms.

On Dec. 5, Gary Franckewich found the puppy he named Miracle, limping toward the carpenter on two broken limbs at a Crystal Springs construction site. He rushed her to Crystal Springs Veterinary Clinic, has visited her nearly every day since and claimed her as his own.

He has been overwhelmed by the far more humane reactions to Miracle's plight, the outrage, sadness, and donations to pay her medical costs and a $9,400 reward to find her alleged abuser.

"I heard through the kids and stuff that he was bragging about it," Franckewich said. "I don't know how you can brag about something like that.

"Maybe it's a good thing he bragged about it, because if he's the one who did it, then ... they need to get him psychological help. My question is, how do you prosecute a 14-year-old boy for something so horrible?"

The investigation came together quickly, thanks to four witnesses coming forward.

"It was a period over the last two months that we've had different witnesses step forward," Harris said, "basically each one gave us the same information on the same person."

The suspect, Harris said, is being charged only with clamping the dog's jaws shut, which left her at a starved and dehydrated 14 pounds, with maggots infesting her tongue and flesh rotting from her lips.

Miracle also was diagnosed with, and underwent surgeries for, a broken elbow on her right foreleg, a broken right hind leg and a broken left hip joint.

"The dog had other injuries, but we cannot verify who (inflicted) those injuries," Harris said.

Asked if more arrests are expected, Harris answered: "It's an open investigation. We're still looking into leads."

Franckewich can't believe the boy acted alone.

"How could he have held the dog's tongue out and wrapped a rubber band around his jaw?" he said. "I believe there were more people."

The suspect's guardian could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Miracle is doing fine, Franckewich said, learning to drink and eat despite her disability. She needs more operations, but not until she grows some more.

"She's just a beautiful puppy now ...," he said. "She goes up to people and sniffs them and looks at them and checks them out. She has no fear; she's just so loving.

"She gave the human race another chance."

Jamal Thalji covers crime in east Pasco. He can be reached at 352 521-6518 or toll free 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6518. His e-mail address is thalji@sptimes.com

[Last modified February 8, 2006, 01:40:46]