[PHOTO CREDITS: TikTok / Facebook / Larry Colon]
[Original Publish Date: 02/17/21]
CLERMONT, Florida — A TikTok video of an amateur botched C-section that killed a white French bulldog landed two men behind bars Friday, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Larry Colon, 50, is alleged to have paid a man $650 to perform a c-section on his pregnant dog, Lyla, in Colon’s living room while Colon’s teenage daughter filmed the horrific surgery and posted it on the popular app TikTok Feb. 9.
The video shows Colon holding Lyla down on a metal table while Frankie Huertas-Rivera, 33, cuts Lyla open. Lyla is seen shaking and squirming in pain with her head thrashing back and forth, giving the appearance the dog is not completely sedated, according to the affidavit, Huertas-Rivera then removes puppies from Lyla.
Colon then took Lyla — after she was already dead — to a local vet following the C-section and an employee performed chest compressions on the French bulldog for 15 minutes in an attempt to save her life. Lyla was found with two dead puppies still inside her and is believed to have died from septic shock secondary to contamination and additional puppies left in her uterus, according to the affidavit.
The veterinarian told an LCSO deputy Lyla and her two dead puppies “suffered unjust cruelty and suffering due to unethical medical services performed,” the affidavit states.
Colon was picked up on a warrant Friday for animal cruelty and transported to the Lake County Jail, where he was released on $5,000 bond. Huertas-Rivera was arrested Friday in Hernando County on a warrant for animal cruelty and practicing without a license. He was released from the Hernando County Jail on $7,000 bond.
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Our Editor-in-Chief, Marilyn M. Aciego, began writing for Lake Legal News in 2010. Born and raised in Lake County, she is a graduate of Umatilla High School and Lake-Sumter State College. She started her journalism career at LSSC, where she was editor of both student publications, The Angler and The Odyssey. Her professional career began at the Daily Commercial in 2004 where she covered cops and courts the majority of her time there until she left in 2009. Currently, along with being Editor-in-Chief of Lake Legal News, she is the Florida bureau chief for an international media organization. She has made more than two dozen appearances on live national television, including Nancy Grace and the Greta Van Susteren show, along with her appearance on Evil Twins. Contact her with breaking news, tips, and feedback by sending an e-mail to 352Tips@gmail.com. You can also contact us on our Facebook page — and make sure you “Like” and “Follow us” there. [PHOTO CREDIT: Bonnie Whicher]
