ORLANDO, Fla. – A man wanted in connection with multiple burglaries is facing charges after Orange County deputies said he left a dog inside a vehicle for 15 hours and fled from law enforcement officers.
According to a report from the Orange County Sheriff's Office, Troy Plante, 46, of Kissimmee, left the pit bull in the car, which was not running, from 7:40 p.m. Tuesday to 11:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Deputies spotted the silver Ford Expedition near Sand Lake Road and Universal Boulevard around 7:35 p.m. Tuesday, the report said. According to the Sheriff's Office, the Expedition had been listed as a suspect vehicle in several Orange County burglaries.
When a deputy identified the vehicle and was about to make contact with Plante, Plante tried to hide the vehicle by parking it in the grass behind a dumpster at the Comfort Inn in the 8100 block of International Drive, deputies said.
Plante then abandoned the vehicle and jumped over a fence to flee from deputies, the report said.
Deputies approached the Expedition and noticed the pit bull in the back seat, according to the Sheriff's Office. They contacted Orange County Animal Services about the dog, but animal services officials said they would not take it unless it was in distress, deputies said.
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After surveying the vehicle for hours, deputies left the scene around 10:30 p.m., assuming Plante would come back to it, according to the report. Deputies returned to the scene around 9:15 a.m. Wednesday to find the dog was still inside the vehicle and was sitting in direct sunlight with the windows lowered two inches, the report said.
By 11:30 a.m., a deputy saw the dog panting heavily in the floorboard of the back seat, the Sheriff's Office said. The deputy said he couldn't see any food or water in the vehicle and the dog looked lethargic and wasn't moving much, according to the report.
The deputy said he was concerned about the dog, so he pulled on the driver's seat door handle and noticed it was unlocked. He then opened the vehicle and got the dog out, the report said.
According to the deputy, the dog was hot to the touch and still panting heavily, so he took it to a shady area and gave it some water.
Before the deputy removed the dog from the vehicle, he said he checked the outside temperature and saw it was 90 degrees, according to the report. About 15 minutes after he removed the dog, a thermometer showed a temperature of 139.9 degrees through a tinted window and 126.5 degrees through the open window, the report said.
Animal services officials responded and took the dog, deputies said. Plante was later found and arrested at a different hotel on animal cruelty charges, according to the Sheriff's Office. He was also interviewed for the alleged burglaries, according to the report.