A Medford, Massachusetts, dog walker charged with animal cruelty after he was caught on camera allegedly abusing a dog was released on his own recognizance Monday.
The video of the alleged animal abuse is too shocking to show, but still photos of that Medford dog walker allegedly punching and yanking a golden retriever named Tokyo around by his collar is what led to charges of animal cruelty.
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The couple who took this video of the alleged animal abuse Sunday morning were subjected to verbal abuse and racial slurs themselves.
Thanks to the video, Medford police located and arrested 33-year-old Frederick Ingrando at his Medford home Sunday, where he was allegedly boarding the five dogs in one room.
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Ingrando was a provider on the pet care services app "Rover."
Rover said it has suspended his account, calling his behavior "abhorrent."
Tokyo and the other four dogs in the video were turned over to a local kennel, that's working on reuniting all of them with their owners.
The kennel told NBC10 Boston they've all been checked out by a vet and are doing fine physically but the concern is the emotional toll this has taken on them.
A not guilty plea was entered on Ingrando's behalf, and he and his father vehemently denied the allegations against him as they left the courthouse.
Frederick Ingrando insisted, “Nothing happened. It’s a false report. It’s a false report.”
We reminded him, "It's on video. It's on video."
"You can watch the video on social media. You can watch it later because nothing happened. I love dogs, I love dogs and I will always love dogs, there you go. That's all I have to say. That's exaggerating, this is exaggerating from the police," said Ingrando.
NBC10 Boston asked Ingrando's father, "What do you have to say about the way he treated that dog?"
"My son's a man, he was brought up the right way. He has a condition. If you can't see it by looking at him, then you guys ain't news people," he replied.
While the judge ordered Ingrando not to have contact with the dogs involved or their owners, she's still allowing him to work with animals.
He's due back in court April 30.
