Osvaldo Sanchez and Sugar the Chihuahua (Collier County Sheriff’s Office)
A 61-year-old man in Florida was arrested this week for allegedly posing as a veterinarian and performing surgery on a pregnant dog that later died.
Osvaldo Sanchez was taken into custody on Friday and charged with one count of cruelty to animals causing cruel death, pain, or suffering and one count of practicing veterinarian medicine without a license, records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
The investigation into Sanchez, a licensed dog groomer but not a veterinarian, was led by the Collier County Sheriff’s Office’s Animal Cruelty Investigations Alliance, CCSO said in a news release.
According to the release, CCSO detectives were first alerted to Sanchez’s allegedly suspicious activity after a 6-year-old pet Chihuahua named “Sugar” died after undergoing an “illicit surgery performed by Sanchez on May 18.”
The couple who owned Sugar had previously been introduced to Sanchez, who investigators say was holding himself out as a licensed veterinarian. The owners later reached out to Sanchez when it appeared that the then-pregnant Sugar was “having difficulty” while giving birth.
Sanchez allegedly traveled to the couple’s home, where he “examined” Sugar and then performed a C-section and spay procedure on the dog. The procedure took place inside Sanchez’s mobile office, which was a converted ambulance, investigators said. Sanchez removed a stillborn puppy during the procedure and charged Sugar’s owners $600 for his efforts.
“Sugar subsequently became ill from an infection as a result of the surgery and spent the following week in the care of a licensed veterinary clinic in dire shape,” the CCSO release states.
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On May 25, Sugar’s owners took the 6-pound dog to a 24-hour emergency pet hospital where licensed veterinary personnel performed an ultrasound where they made a troubling discovery.
The vets at the clinic told investigators that Sugar’s surgical incision had been closed with regular string or sewing thread, not the standard suture material typically used in such procedures. The use of that material was deemed to be the most likely cause of Sugar’s infection.
As Sugar’s condition worsened, her owners brought her back to the same pet hospital later that day. Unfortunately, the dog succumbed to the infection and died later that evening due to “multiple complications from the surgery” performed by Sanchez, investigators said.
One of the doctors who worked on Sugar at the pet hospital told CCSO investigators that the C-section procedure Sanchez performed on the Chihuahua was “not an uncommon surgery for pregnant dogs” and further stated that “had a qualified veterinarian performed the procedure on Sugar, she likely would have survived.”
In a statement following Sanchez’s arrest, Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk urged the public to do the proper due diligence and only to entrust the lives of pets to a licensed veterinarian.
“Pets’ lives are at risk if unlicensed individuals perform surgery, prescribe medication and claim to provide needed care,” Sheriff Rambosk said. “Such individuals who believe they can operate outside the law will be arrested and held accountable — our dedicated detectives will see to it.”
It was unclear Saturday whether Sanchez has retained an attorney to defend him in the matter.
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