A St. Paul man has been put on probation after admitting that several of his dogs attacked and wounded a 7-year-old girl last winter.
Probation for St. Paul man whose dogs mauled 7-year-old girl
The Ramsey County judge set aside a jail sentence in favor of unsupervised probation. Sentencing terms include that the man cannot own or care for a dog during his probation.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
January 16, 2025 at 3:28PM
Marco Antonio Mendoza Landaverde, 38, was sentenced Monday in Ramsey County District Court after pleading guilty to two misdemeanors: failure to restrain the dogs from inflicting injury and failing to have the dogs vaccinated for rabies in connection with the incident on Feb. 8, 2024, in the 600 block of Van Buren Avenue.
Judge Maria Mitchell set aside a 90-day jail sentence in favor of one year of unsupervised probation. Sentencing terms include that Landaverde cannot own or care for a dog during his probation. He was also assessed $146 in fines and fees.
Landaverde surrendered the dogs to city Animal Control the day after the attack, and “they were humanely euthanized,” the criminal complaint said.
A posting on the day of the attack on the Nextdoor social media app warned parents in the Frogtown neighborhood to keep their kids inside “and keep an eye out for these dogs,” which were said to be pit bulls.
An online fundraiser organized by the girl’s brother soon after the attack identified her as Sumaya Farah Ali. According to a note written by her brother, the family arrived in the United States four months earlier to find medical care for a family member’s congenital heart defect.
“Sumaya was injured and had pieces of nose, ear and thigh bitten off. The doctors were able to stitch together the best they could,” the brother wrote.
According to the charges:
About 4:40 p.m., a 911 caller said several dogs bit her daughter. The girl’s parents said Sumaya was leaving the bus stop with her father when five large dogs pulled her to the ground and attacked her.
Emergency medical responders took the girl and her parents to a nearby hospital for treatment of her wounds.
A resident provided police with a video recording from his doorbell camera of the attack. It showed the dogs kept mauling the girl until an SUV driver, later identified as Landaverde, honked and sent the dogs running.
Landaverde said the dogs got loose from his yard a block away through an open gate. He provided proof of rabies vaccination for two of the five dogs. He did not have a permit allowing him to have more than three dogs.
Dozens lived in the encampment near Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary, which was torn down Thursday due to growing safety concerns.
