Dog thrown against wall, stolen
Mill Valley, CA (US)

Incident Date: Friday, Mar 21, 2008
County: Marin

Disposition: Alleged

Alleged: Josefe Maria Corrasco

Case Updates: 1 update(s) available

A live-in caregiver for a terminally ill Mill Valley man was jailed Friday on allegations he stole the man's miniature lapdogs after throwing one of the dogs against a wall in a rage, authorities said. One or both of the dogs might be dead, and their whereabouts are unknown, said Mill Valley police Sgt. Jacqueline Graf. "I can't even speculate what this guy did with them," Graf said. "He took the dogs from the residence, he returned without them."

But in an interview at the county jail, the caregiver, Josefe Maria Corrasco, said the dogs belong to him, not the accuser, and he denied throwing or killing the dogs. He said he gave them away in San Francisco because of frictions they were causing in the two-man household. "They were my animals," said Corrasco, 54, known to acquaintances as Joey.

The case began at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, when police received a 911 call from a 91-year-old man on Greenwood Way. The call got disconnected, so police went to the man's home to check on him. The man, who has terminal cancer, told police his caregiver threw one of his two miniature dogs against a wall and might have killed it, Graf said. The caregiver then left with both of the dogs. While police were at the residence, Corrasco returned without the dogs and was arrested. Police are still trying to find the animals.

Police called Adult Protective Services to help care for the older man, and notified the Marin Humane Society about the missing dogs. One of the dogs is a female Papillion named Missy, the other is a male Pomeranian named Bear and nicknamed Mischa, according to Corrasco. Anyone with information about the dogs can call the Mill Valley Police Department at 389-4100.

Corrasco, who is being held in at the county jail in lieu of $100,000 bail, was arraigned in Marin Superior Court on Friday on charges of animal cruelty, theft, theft of dogs and damaging a telephone line, said Deputy District Attorney Linda Witong. Prosecutors also obtained a court order barring Corrasco from coming within 100 yards of the alleged victim or his residence.
Corrasco faces up to four years and four months in state prison if convicted, Witong said. A plea hearing is pending.

Corrasco and the alleged victim, whom police did not name, are longtime acquaintances. Corrasco said he volunteered to move in with the man about 18 months ago to help take care of him when he became stricken with cancer. "I dropped everything," he said. "I put weight on him, I cleaned his house up for him. I cooked good food for him every single day." "He's actually like a surrogate father to me," he added. "I actually adore him."

Corrasco said he took the dogs away Thursday because he and the elder man were arguing over their proper feeding. This incident followed other domestic conflicts over the dogs, he said. "I said, 'That's it, I'm going to take these dogs and give them away,'" he said. Corrasco said he went to the San Francisco Veteran Affairs Medical Center and gave one of the dogs away to a woman he found there. He gave the other to a teenage girl who was walking past the VA hospital. "She said it was her birthday," he said. "She was kind of cute, so I gave it to her."

Corrasco called his arrest "disgusting" and said he is the victim of racial profiling. "There's a lot of racial profiling in Mill Valley," said Corrasco, who is dark-complexioned. Mill Valley police Sgt. Paul Wrapp rejected Corrasco's assertion. "There's absolutely no racial profiling going on Mill Valley," Wrapp said. "We do not encourage it, we do not accept it, we do not condone it in any way. ... He was pointed out to us as a suspect in a crime. We were told what he did, and we took the appropriate action."

Case Updates

References

Marin Independent Journal - March 21, 2008

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