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Carlos Lauro, age 76, of Riverhead, was sentenced to one year in jail in Suffolk County Court on Thursday, Jan. 18, after pleading guilty to animal abuse charges.
It came one week after Lauro was arrested following a search of his South Avenue property by detectives with the Suffolk County DA’s office and the Riverhead Police department.
The agencies were initially contacted Thursday, Jan. 11, about a 1-year-old German Shepherd that had arrived at a Westbury veterinary hospital with a gunshot wound to its head.
The injury had left the dog paralyzed and it was ultimately euthanized.
A witness told investigators that the dog, named Blitzkrieg, had been found shot at around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 10, lying in a pen on Lauro’s South Avenue property.
Next to the animal had been a dead goat, the witness reported.
When detectives went to Lauro’s property, they were informed that he had previously shot and killed another German Shepherd, a 6-month-old puppy named Cranky, a month prior.
He had grown upset after the dog refused to go back inside his house, prosecutors said.
Lauro allegedly shot the animal once in the head and then – after another resident brought the dog inside to save him – dragged him back outside and shot him in the head.
While executing a search warrant at his property, investigators reportedly found numerous dead farm animals, including a baby goat and pig. The circumstances of their deaths are being investigated.
Police also located eight surviving dogs – five Belgian Malinois/Dutch Shepherd mix dogs, a Border Collie, and two German Shepherds – as well as nearly 100 farm animals, including goats, pigs, cows, chickens, and geese.
All of the animals were found living in “deplorable” conditions without food or water and showed obvious signs of neglect, prosecutors said.
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney called the scene “a particularly horrific example of cruelty.”
“Our Biological, Environmental, and Animal Safety Team, the Suffolk County Police Department, and the Riverhead Police Department put together a solid case, and the defendant’s only recourse was to plead guilty,” Tierney said.
“This kind of cruelty will not be tolerated by my office, nor the people of Suffolk County, and the swift sentence of one year in jail demonstrates that. Let this serve as a warning to anyone seeking to injure animals.”
Lauro is no stranger to law enforcement. Town Code Enforcement officials have made repeated visits to his property for alleged illegal animal sales, attempts to operate an illegal slaughterhouse, and illegal structures, said Town of Riverhead Attorney Erik Howard.
In court Thursday, Lauro pleaded guilty to one count of unjustified killing of an animal and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle from an unrelated case, both misdemeanors.
He was also banned from owning or possessing any animals for 20 years.
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