Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Boy has never been mean to animals

That's what the grandfather of the teen accused of torturing Miracle says. But, he admits, his grandson has had lots of trouble throughout his life.

By JAMAL THALJI
Published February 9, 2006

CRYSTAL SPRINGS - The grandfather can't say exactly when his grandson's life went wrong.

His parents always fought and argued. Then his mother died when he was 3, thrown through the rear windshield, her neck broken. His grandmother adopted him. The older he got the more trouble he was in.

There were fights, and suspensions, at school. The wrong crowd in the neighborhood. A growing defiance at home. He had stolen grandma's medication, used pot and even shot someone with a BB gun, the grandfather said.

No one could get through to the 14-year-old known as "Bubba," the boy accused of torturing the puppy known as Miracle.

"He can tell you more than I can what he's got in his brain," the grandfather said. "Because I've talked to him back when he first started to get into trouble.

"I told him "Bubba, you do your thing. But you're getting out of hand. You're getting more deeper and deeper (in trouble.)' "

But the grandfather doesn't believe his grandson is the one authorities say wrapped the helpless pit bullterrier's jaws with a rubber band so tightly she couldn't pull her outstretched tongue back into her mouth. He doesn't believe the boy was the one who boasted of torturing the dog, then left her without food or water for days.

The boy told his grandparents he didn't do it when he called home Tuesday from the Juvenile Detention Facility, where he was charged with felony animal cruelty.

"He said there's another guy named Bubba in Crystal Springs who did that," the grandfather said.

The names of the suspect and his relations are being withheld by the St. Petersburg Times because of his age. The Public Defender's Office was appointed Wednesday to represent the boy.

He was already being held by authorities on a July charge of armed burglary, accused of breaking into a local home with other teens and stealing two rifles. His grandfather said the boy had missed four court dates in that case and was arrested days before the new charges were filed.

Carpenter Gary Franckewich found the emaciated puppy Dec. 5 and rushed her to a veterinary clinic, saving her life. Miracle's tongue was partially amputated, and she was treated for a host of injuries. News of her plight brought an outpouring of outrage, support and finally the information that led an arrest.

The grandfather, 53, doesn't deny that his grandson has seen more than his share of trouble. It all goes back to the boy's parents.

"(The mother) was straight with him, but the father never was," he said. "Something was missing in that marriage."

The boy's father wasn't a factor in his life after the mother died. His grandmother, now 55 and his legal guardian, tried to rein the boy in. But she couldn't fight the boy, diabetes and high blood pressure all at the same time.

The boy used to play youth football, but that soon stopped. He got into more and more trouble at school. He shoved his aunt and twisted his grandmother's arm. They'd warn him to behave, but he'd shrug it off with a laugh. The grandfather traces the downward spiral to "all the friends he's got around here."

He is also partly deaf, has a learning disability and emotional problems, his aunt said, borne of his parents' short but rough marriage. The father, now remarried, is back in the picture.

"After Dad not talking to you for 10 years," the boy's aunt said, "it will affect you when he sees he has more kids and he loves them and plays with them."

But the boy's never been mean to animals, the grandfather said, even if he's been known to roughly grab the jaws of Whiny, grandad's Rottweiler-German shepherd mix.

"He doesn't know how to show he cares about you," the aunt said. "When he's rough with you, he's trying to tell you I love you."

Times researcher Angie Drobnic Holan contributed to this report.

[Last modified February 9, 2006, 01:31:10]