‘It was like an assembly line.’ Police describe ‘heinous’ puppy mill in Lathrop, Manteca
The man arrested for allegedly performing illegal C-sections and operating what authorities called a ‘puppy mill’ in Lathrop and Manteca told police he was a veterinarian in Mexico.
But Pedro Maldonado Victorio was not licensed in California and the way he was performing the surgeries and the mechanisms by which he was breeding the dogs was “heinous,” police said during a press conference Friday.
“The actual vets we have spoken to say these operations were done so poorly that the incision for the C-sections that were completed on these dogs were never truly healed,” said Chief Ryan Biedermann of Lathrop Police Services.
He said the dogs — French and English bulldogs — were not sewn up from the inside and never had an opportunity to heal before they were inseminated again.
“It was like an assembly line operation; these dogs would give birth, C-sections would be completed ... and they were then artificially put in heat through the medication that we found, then inseminated again,” Biedermann said. “They are basically circumventing the normal biological process of these dogs to probably maximize the money they are making.”
Because of this process, Biedermann said, the female dogs are suffering nerve damage and organs like their kidneys and stomachs are displaced, leading to severe intestinal issues for some.
The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office became aware of the illegal operation Saturday, when a woman spotted loose English bulldog puppies that came from a home in the 2000 block of East Louise Avenue in Lathrop.
The woman witnessed two men coming from the home wearing bloody surgical gloves and called police.
Victorio was arrested, and police searched the Lathrop home as well as a home in Manteca and a business in an industrial area there.
In all, police seized 30 dogs and $13,000 in cash, along with illegal narcotics, anesthetic and drugs used to induce heat, which authorities believe were purchased in Mexico.
Police also found several deceased dogs, including one in a trash can along with pieces of other dogs’ ears that were cropped.
Biedermann said five to seven dogs were being kept in kennels designed for only one dog.
The 30 dogs seized belonged to Victorio but that he also performed surgeries on other people’s dogs, charging a few hundred dollars for C-sections that would cost thousands at a licensed vet, Biedermann said.
He did not know how much the dogs were being sold for, but a French bulldog can cost upward of $5,000, according to some breeder websites.
No one else has been arrested in connection with the operation, but Victorio’s wife and a caretaker of the Lathrop home remain suspects, Biedermann said.
Victorio was arraigned Thursday on two counts of administering narcotics, cruelty and torture to animals, and practicing without a veterinary license, said San Joaquin County District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar.
She said people who buy dogs need to do their research to ensure they are purchasing animals from a reputable breeder.
“If it’s a good deal, then you ought to be a little suspicious because that means someone, somewhere along the way is cutting corners ... so you need to be aware that for this animal to come into your life, another animal had to suffer,” Verber Salazar said. “I don’t think that’s what animal owners and lovers are about … Nobody would be proud that they had purchased an animal that had endured the kind of pain and suffering we have seen here. “
Biedermann said people are already inquiring about adopting the dogs, but they are evidence in a crime and wouldn’t be adoptable unless Victorio surrendered them and/or the case is adjudicated.
Police ask anyone who purchased a dog from Victorio or hired him to perform a surgery on their pets to contact the Sheriff’s Office at 209-468-4400 or Manteca Police Department at 209-456-8100.
This story was originally published January 31, 2020 at 3:00 PM.
