A man wanted in the stabbing of a dog in Hialeah earlier this month has been arrested, authorities said.
Jose Cespedes, 38, was arrested Thursday on charges of animal cruelty with intent to injure or kill and carrying a concealed weapon in the Sept. 13 incident, jail records showed.
Surveillance video captured the suspect stabbing the barking dog repeatedly after he jumped the fence at the owner's home on the 4200 block of East 8th Lane.
“We had one of our Hialeah officers, he had a hunch, he says, ‘I think I know this guy.’ And he was looking out for him, and we got lucky yesterday," Hialeah Police spokesman Carl Zogby said.
The officer found Cespedes close to where the incident occurred and detained him before the dog's owner identified him as the man who stabbed her pet, Zogby said.
The dog, Zoe, kept barking even after she was stabbed. Owner Lissette Gonzalez said she saw the attack and tried to stop it. When she found Zoe the dog was bleeding and had a knife sticking out of her neck area.
Zoe had to undergo surgery to repair the muscles that were damaged by the knife and received six stitches.
Gonzalez was able to pick Cespedes out of a photo lineup, according to a Hialeah Police arrest report. Cespedes denied any involvement in the stabbing, the report said.
During his court appearance Friday, Cespedes was ordered held on $26,000 bond by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Rodney Smith. Cespedes' public defender argued that the amount was the same as no bond.
"He stabbed a dog in the shoulder, walking, the dog was not doing anything," Smith said.
Cespedes, speaking through an interpreter, said he is unemployed and lives with his parents and daughter.
Police said Cespedes has an arrest record dating back to 1998 that includes assault with a deadly weapon, resisting an officer with violence, aggravated battery, grand theft auto, trespassing and disorderly intoxication.
