Updated – Jan. 19: One week to the day following his arrest for fatally shooting a German Shepherd puppy, a Riverhead man pleaded guilty today and was sentenced to one year in jail.
Carlo Lauro, 76, of 5176 Sound Avenue, has also been banned from owning or possessing animals for 20 years, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney announced Thursday.
In addition, Lauro was sentenced to another 240 days in jail on 16 separate Riverhead Town Code violations — for loose goats wandering off his property and lack of certificates of occupancy for 11 structures built without permits on his property, according to Deputy Town Attorney Victoria Ceru. Lauro entered guilty pleas on the town code charges late in the day Thursday, she said. The sentences for the town code violations will run concurrently with the one-year sentence, so it won’t extend Lauro’s time behind bars, Ceru said.
The investigation into Lauro was launched on January 10, 2024, when a one-year-old German Shepherd was taken to the VCA Veterinary Hospital in Westbury and found to be paralyzed from a gunshot wound to the head.
According to a witness, the dog, named “Blitzkrieg,” was found shot at about 5:30 p.m., laying in a pen on Lauro’s property next to a dead goat. When detectives with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Biological, Environmental, and Animal Safety Team (BEAST) arrived at Lauro’s home, they learned that approximately one month prior, Lauro had shot and killed another German Shepherd, a six-month old puppy named “Cranky.” Lauro shot Cranky in the back, and when another resident of the house took the dog back inside the home in an attempt to console the puppy and treat her wounds, Lauro dragged the dog back outside and shot Cranky in the head, killing her.
At Lauro’s home, BEAST detectives found five surviving Belgian Malinois/Dutch Shepherd mix dogs, a Border Collie dog, two German Shepherd dogs, and numerous other animals including a multitude of goats, pigs, cows, chickens, and geese. Many other deceased farm animals, including a baby goat and pig, were observed at the scene, the DA said.
Humane Long Island said it has since removed nearly 100 animals, including three cows, 10 freezing piglets, a dozen waterfowl, and dozens of sick and injured chickens, sheep, goats, and a bunny from Lauro’s property.
“Our Biological, Environmental, and Animal Safety Team, the Suffolk County Police Department, and the Riverhead Police Department put together a solid case, and the defendant’s only recourse was to plead guilty,” Tierney said.
“This kind of cruelty will not be tolerated by my office, nor the people of Suffolk County, and the swift sentence of one year in jail demonstrates that. Let this serve as a warning to anyone seeking to injure animals,” he said.
On Jan. 11, BEAST detectives with the assistance from the the Riverhead Police Department, executed a search warrant against the premises and arrested Lauro.
On Jan. 18, Lauro pleaded guilty before Riverhead Town Justice Honorable Lori Hulse, to the unjustified killing of an animal, a class “A” misdemeanor. He also pleaded guilty to Aggravated Unlicensed Operation of a Motor Vehicle in the Third Degree, an unclassified misdemeanor, stemming from an unrelated case. As conditions of his plea, Lauro was sentenced to one year in jail, was issued a 20-year ban on owning or possessing animals, and all the surviving animals owned by Lauro were surrendered.
Editor’s note: This article was updated on Jan. 19 to add new information about Lauro’s plea and sentencing on the town code violations.
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