ORLANDO, Fla. – As the sun beat down on the parking lot outside Disney's Animal Kingdom on a humid day in late June, a small white Maltese mix named Money sat in a Nissan Altima with Virginia license plates, waiting for its owner to return from the theme park.
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Although each of the windows were open about 3 inches, authorities estimate the temperature inside the car exceeded a sweltering 110-120 degrees by late afternoon.
"It was like opening an oven door and placing your hand inside the oven," an Orange County sheriff's deputy wrote in a report after reaching into the window.
From the time the car was parked in Row 37 at 12:37 p.m. that afternoon until it was seen driving away from Animal Kingdom more than eight hours later, reports indicate that neither deputies, Disney security personnel, nor an Orange County Animal Services officer witnessed the dog's owner return to check on the animal, take it for a walk, or refill the food and water bowls that had slid under the passenger seat.
That owner, later identified by OCAS as Shawanda Pierce, was issued a $265 citation for animal neglect.
But deputies did not arrest the Virginia woman, and the agency did not forward any information about the incident to the State Attorney's Office for possible criminal prosecution.
Yet that very same week, sheriff's deputies arrested two Central Floridians who were accused of leaving their dogs in hot cars for significantly shorter periods of time. Both are now facing charges of felony animal cruelty, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
"It's not fair," said Britton Ortize, who was handcuffed and taken to jail after admitting he left his dog in the car for about 20 minutes while he ran in an Orlando Target store. "I knew my dog would be fine in that short amount of time."
Authorities disagree with Ortize, saying his Maltese, Simon, appeared to be in distress. Firefighters estimated the temperature inside Ortize's car was 130 degrees with the windows rolled up.
"Now I've got to find an attorney," said Ortize, who claims he lost his new job at Busch Gardens as a result of his arrest for animal cruelty.
Two days after Ortize was booked into jail, Orange County deputies arrested Jimena Chica as she walked out of the Florida Mall. Investigators said the woman's Yorkshire Terrier, Lulu, appeared to be dehydrated after being left in Chica's SUV for about 59 minutes. Even though two of the windows were rolled down about an inch, firefighters measured the interior temperature at 120 degrees.
Chica told an OCAS officer that she had just picked up her dog from a friend's home and had quickly stopped at the mall to grab some outfits, according to a report. Chica's attorney did not return a phone call seeking comment.
So why didn't deputies arrest Shawanda Pierce for allegedly committing a similar crime at Animal Kingdom?
"In the cases involving Ortize and Chica, probable cause was established on scene to make an arrest," said Lourdes Clayton, an Orange County Sheriff's Office spokesperson. "In the third case ... the person responsible for leaving the dog in the vehicle was unknown to deputies."
Disney employees first noticed Pierce's dog in the car around 1 p.m., less than a half hour after cars were directed to park in that row of Animal Kingdom's parking lot, records indicate.
Disney security officers contacted the Sheriff's Office, but according to records, the deputy who responded soon left the scene with the dog still locked in Pierce's car.
"The dog had ventilation, food and water and was not in distress," states a sheriff's office report. A Disney security officer later told an Animal Services officer that "it was not hot outside" at the time, records show.
As Disney security officers checked on the dog several times throughout the day, they said the Maltese was no longer getting up and the water left in the bowl for the dog was almost gone, a report indicates.
Just before 5 p.m., Disney security officers contacted the Sheriff's Office again. By then, the outside temperature had climbed to 90-95 degrees with the sun shining directly on the asphalt parking lot, records indicate.
"I felt the dog was in distress and must be removed immediately," Deputy Appling Wells wrote in a report.
He and a Disney security officer reached in the partially opened windows, unlocked the doors of Pierce's car and removed the Maltese.
Deputy Wells contacted OCAS to impound the dog.
Although the theme park closed at 7 p.m., Wells and an Animal Services officer remained in the parking lot until after 8 p.m. waiting for the dog's owner to return to the car but she did not show up, records indicate.
At 8:45 p.m., Disney security contacted the Sheriff's Office because the owner had finally returned. But by the time Deputy Wells made it back to the parking lot, the vehicle had left, according to a report.
Two days later, Shawanda Pierce visited OCAS headquarters to pick up the Maltese and identified herself as the dog's owner, records show. The county agency issued Pierce a $265 civil citation for animal neglect, which she signed before reclaiming her dog.
OCAS issued similar citations to Ortize and Chica before their arrests for animal cruelty.
"It doesn't seem very fair to me," said attorney Thomas Nicholl. "We have the most egregious situation getting a fine, and serious but possibly not-as-serious situations facing up to five years in prison."
Nicholl, who previously worked as a veterinarian, said anyone who locks their pet in a hot car can potentially be prosecuted for animal cruelty.
"Even a relatively mild outside temperature of 72 degrees, within a matter of minutes, inside the car is 114 degrees," said Nicholl. "Leaving the windows cracked really doesn't solve the problem."
Since an Orange County officer did not witness Pierce return to her car, the agency was not conducting a criminal investigation, according to a sheriff's office spokesperson.
"The case is closed," said Clayton. "(It) was turned over to Animal Services for further investigation."
But OCAS does not conduct criminal investigations, according to a representative of that agency.
"Animal Services can only enforce the law on a civil level, which we did with the citation," said OCAS spokesperson Diane Summers. "Our agency cannot pursue criminal charges."
According to Summers, an unidentified representative from the Sheriff's Office picked up the OCAS report that identifies Pierce as the dog's owner.
After Local 6 repeatedly inquired about that OCAS report, the Sheriff's Office announced the status of its investigation had changed.
"The case is under review by an investigator," Clayton wrote in an email to Local 6 on August 11, nearly seven weeks after Pierce's dog was recovered from the hot car. "The case is in active status and I am unable to provide further details of this ongoing investigation."
Pierce has not yet paid her $265 citation, nor has she completed a court-ordered responsible pet owner class, according to court records.
"I don't have a story to tell you," Pierce wrote in an email in response to multiple inquiries by Local 6. "Have a bless day."