A former Iowa deputy has admitted to causing the death of his K-9 partner that was left in a hot police truck for 22 hours on a scorching summer day.
Dallas Wingate, previously a sergeant with the Boone County Sheriff’s Department, has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor animal neglect with serious injury or death, Des Moines Register first reported Monday.
As part of the plea deal, prosecutors dropped a felony charge of torturing/injuring/killing/threatening a police dog against Wingate.
On the evening of Sept. 2, 2022, Wingate discovered the police dog in his care, K-9 Officer Bear, dead inside his truck.
The deputy told investigators he had placed the dog in the vehicle around 10 p.m. the night before because Bear was barking at a deer, according to documents related to a search warrant.
Wingate, who had been with the department’s K-9 unit for 15 years, said he only remembered confining Bear to the truck after he went outside to feed his other dogs around 8 p.m. the next night and didn’t see the pooch among them.
The criminal complaint said Wingate failed to provide Bear with food, water and ventilation for 22 hours while the dog was stranded in the truck.
During that time, the sergeant had used the vehicle, with Bear still inside, to drive to a sheriff’s meeting and back home in the afternoon, but failed to remove the dog.
The outside temperature that day reached 89 degrees, meaning that the truck’s interior temperature would have been well over 100 degrees.
Wingate was placed on administrative leave after Bear’s death, and he resigned just days later.
Boone County Sheriff Andy Godzicki welcomed the plea deal, telling the station KCCI that it will provide closure for the members of his department.
“I am grateful that there was an outcome to this and that there is justice for that canine dying,” Godzicki said.
The charge against Wingate carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison and a fine of more than $8,500, but the plea agreement recommends 18 months of probation and an $855 fine.