Owner Accused of Dragging Dog With His Truck

A man accused of dragging a Dalmatian behind his truck told police the family pet was already dead when he tied it to the bumper and hauled it to an alley near his home.

Benjamin Arizon Albarez, 44, was arrested on suspicion of cruelty to animals after police found the dead dog surrounded by flies, its neck reddened by a tightly fastened leash.

“It definitely had been dragged, no doubt about that,” Garden Grove Police Lt. Scott Hamilton said Friday. “Whether it was alive or dead when he tied it to his car, that’s the key thing, which will have to be determined later.”

He said the only witness was an undercover officer from the Los Angeles Police Department who was working in the area. The officer alerted local police when he saw Albarez’s truck pulling the dog near Clinton Street and Trask Avenue about 2:45 p.m. Thursday, according to Hamilton.

Albarez’s wife, Maria Estelle Arizon, said Friday her husband had given the dog to their 4-year-old daughter, Lupita, about a year ago. The girl stood shyly by while her mother spoke from the doorway of the family’s house, tears streaming down her face and onto her dress, which carried a Dalmatian design.

“Nobody believes us, but the dog was dead. He just wanted to get it out of the house,” Arizon said in defense of her husband. “We thought, he was dead already, so it would be better to put him out in the street.”

Arizon said that when Alvarez presented the Dalmatian puppy to his daughter, Lupita had recently seen the Disney movie “101 Dalmatians” and had been clamoring for one of her own.

Dumping an animal in the street violates county health and safety codes, according to Richard Evans, chief of veterinary services for the county Health Care Agency. Dead pets can be buried on residents’ property in certain cities. Or they can be legally disposed of either by a veterinarian or Orange County Animal Control.

Evans said he performed a necropsy, which is like an autopsy, on the dog Friday, but neither he nor police would disclose the results.

Arizon said the family had been tending the sick dog for most of Wednesday night, giving it water from an eyedropper and putting blankets around it. The family did not call a veterinarian about the dog’s condition, Arizon said.

When the dog died early Thursday, Benjamin Albarez waited for several hours, then tied the dog by its leash to the back bumper of his truck, Arizon said.

“He didn’t want to put it inside because it smelled a lot, but he didn’t do it to hurt the dog,” Arizon said. “He didn’t know you had to call the authorities when your dog dies. If we had known, well--but no one was here to ask.”

“He was our dog. What would we want to kill him for?”

Police tell a different story.

Albarez told them the dog had been tied to a tree in the backyard of the family’s Gloria Street home when it died and he decided to dispose of it, Hamilton said.

No neighbors told police they saw the dog being dragged, but several called police and Orange County Animal Control to report seeing the dead dog in the alley.

“How awful,” said neighbor Norma Cortez, who called authorities after her son, Roger, 13, spied the dead animal. “If the dog was dead, their dog, why would anyone drop it off in an alleyway?”

Arizon said that in the small Mexican town her family is from, dead pets are routinely dropped by the side of the road.

“We thought if we put it out in the street, someone, the police or someone, would pick it up and bury it,’ Arizon said.

Albarez is being held at the Orange County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail, Garden Grove Police Sgt. Frank Hauptmann said. Animal control officers who arrived at the scene took custody of the dog’s remains, Hauptmann said.