Area man wants the 3 dogs he left behind during Irma
Palm Beach County Ani- mal Care and Control took away Joseph Licata’s three dogs two weeks ago, alleging he abandoned them with Hurricane Irma approaching.
Licata, desperate to get his dogs back, argues he didn’t abandon them. Rather, he was on vacation in London, a trip he planned for a year, and enlisted a friend to give them food and water and take them inside if the storm got close.
“I did make a stupid mistake,” he conced e d: He parked his car in front of the door to protect the house, not realizing it was too close for the caretaker to let the dogs in. He also gave her the wrong key, so even without the car she wouldn’t have been able to bring in the dogs, which usually live in his yard.
She was there before the storm when, alerted by a neighbor, Animal Care and Control took Pretty the chi- huahua mix, Carla the boxer mix and Rusty the Malinois mix after seeing the care- taker had no way to get into the house.
Licata hasn’t seen his pets since his return.
They’re “kind of like a small, medium and large,” as he describes the dogs, which he got from a shel- ter 12 years ago.
“We love them dearly,” he said. “They’re about 15 years old. They’re like kids for me.”
Animal Care and Control sees it differently. They’re dealing with dozens of pets abandoned during the hurricane. The agency and the nearby Peggy Adams Ani- mal Rescue League have so many homeless pets on hand, they’re waiving all pet adoption fees through Oct. 14.
In Licata’s case, meanwhile, “there’s a criminal investigation and his sce- nario is, he is very likely to face criminal charges,” David Walesky, operations manager for the county agency said Friday. “He evacuated the country and left three geri- atric dogs in his yard. The caretaker had no means to put the animals away during the winds.”
Licata faces civil and criminal actions, Walesky said. Within 30 days there’ll be a civil hearing in which a judge will decide whether Licata can get his dogs back. Even if he does, he still could be hit with criminal charges.
Licata said he’s beside himself. “I haven’t been able to eat or sleep.”
He’s grateful the agency took the dogs in to protect them, given the circumstances. But he can’t under- stand why they’re accusing him of abandonment.
He works for the U.S. Postal Service, where employees pick their vacation days far in advance, last November in his case. He bought his plane tickets and arranged for a longtime friend to look after the dogs.
He didn’t get the agency’s phone message right away because he didn’t have service in England. When he finally got through and said he would pick up the dogs Sept. 15, “some lady there said, ‘to pick up your dogs you have to speak to an officer, because they were picked up under suspicious circumstances.’ ”
He went in, told them his story. They wouldn’t let him see the dogs.
“They looked at me and they were very cold, very unconcerned. One of the offi- cers said, ‘So you’re admit- ting that you blocked the door.’ I said, ‘Not deliberately.’ I said, ‘I admit I made a mistake and didn’t leave enough room to let them in.’ ”
“They said, ‘We’re going to go for custody of your dogs ... Conversation’s over.”
“The moral of the story is, they’re 15 years old and they want custody of them. What WEST PALM BEACH — As Dalia does that mean? They’re Dippolito awaits a transfer going to try to have some- to prison to begin serving body adopt them? Nobody’s a 16-year sentence in the going to adopt them. They’re high-profile case surroundgoing to be destroyed. I don’t ing a plot to have her husknow what they’re accom- band killed, one of her attorplishing. Now they’re ... in a neys is now waiting to hear little cage, when they’re used from a judge whether he’ll to being free. They haven’t have to pay nearly $1,200 for seen me in three weeks.” failing to bring Dippolito to
But the officials told him a state psychological evaluthat if an owner leaves the ation scheduled during her premises without taking the last trial. dogs, that’s abandonment, In a hearing Monday Licata said. He argued that, before Palm Beach County if he had children and left Circuit Judge Glenn Kelley, them with a babysitter, that Assistant State Attorneys would be abandonment? Laura Burkhart Laurie and
“They don’t deserve to be Craig Williams followed up destroyed and I don’t deserve on a written request Lauto be tortured like this,” he rie made in August for sanc- said. “Not for an accident al tions against defense attorthing I did wrong.” ney Greg Rosenfeld. At the end of the hearing, Kelley said he would issue a writ- ten opinion.
During Dippolito’s third trial in June, Kelley had gr a nted a prosecution request to have forensic psy- chologist Dr. Stephen Alexander evaluate Dippolito because of her defense team’s intention to have battered-woman’s-syndrome expert Dr. Lenore Walker testify about Dippolito’s behavior in videos where she told an undercover officer pos- ing as a hitman that she was “5,000 percent sure” she wanted her then-husband, Michael, dead.
Laurie said she waited for Rosenfeld to bring Dip- polito to the 10 a.m. June 10 appointment with Alexander but neither Rosenfeld or Dippolito showed up. Rosenfeld initially rescheduled the appointment for the follow- ing morning, a Sunday, but then informed Laurie Saturday night that he planned to tell Dippolito to refuse to ation and abandon that part of the defense after a discussion with fellow defense attorney Andrew Greenlee.
ubin, in a written response to prosecutors’ claims, provided a June afternoon email from Greenlee to Rosenfeld that included what appeared to be a suggested response to Laurie apologizing for the inconvenience and telling her that making Dippolito available for Alexander’s exam would leave Rosenfeld open for future claims from Dippolito that he was an ineffective lawyer.
Dippolito was brought to the Palm Beach County courthouse for the hearing Monday but deputies did not bring her to the courtanswer Alexander’s ques- room. She has been in jail tions to preserve her Fifth since her conviction in June. Amendment rights against In response to the claims self-incrimination. by Lubin and Rosenfeld, Lau
Defense attorney Richard rie argued that there was Lubin, acting as Rosenfeld’s plenty of time to notify house attorney for Monday’s hear- arrest even after she andRosing, described the no-show enfeld made contact when as an oversight on the part Dippolito missed the Satof an overworked Rosenurday appointment. And if feld, who originally took there were any problems the case pro bono as the with a potential house arrest third wheel of a three-man violation, Laurie said, she defense team but ended up would have helped Dippolidoing most of the legal work to’s defense work them out. after Miami defense attor“I don’t think this was ney Mark Eiglarsh abruptly an impossible deed,” Lauresigned before Dippolito’s rie said. second trial. Laurie also argued that
Rosenfeld and California she offered several alternaattorney Brian Claypool used tives, including Alexander’s claims of police corruption offer to complete a portion to get a hung jury in that of the testing without a fortrial, but a third jury took mal interview to alleviate any just 90 minutes to convict fears of violating Dippolito’s Dippolito in June after pros- rights. Dippolito’s defense, ecutors put Michael Dip- Laurie argued, refused those polito back on the witness requests because they had stand after leaving him out never intended to have Dipof the second trial. polito participate in the eval
“It’s easy, in the heat of uation in the first place. battle, for something like According to court records, this to happen,” Lubin told Alexander, the psychologist, Kelley, saying that Rosen- charged the state for four feld hadn’t put the evaluahours of his time on Saturday. tion on his calendar, never He also billed for an addiarranged with house arrest tional two hours on Sunday. to have Dippolito attend the evaluation and ultimately decided to cancel the evalu-
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