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Tampa uncuffed

Death of police dog is like losing relative

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published November 24, 2005

Call it the most bittersweet of weeks for Tampa police veteran Sophia Teague.

Monday she was on a high note, having just been named major of the patrol district that includes New Tampa and the University of South Florida.

Police Chief Steve Hogue said Teague's willingness to be Mom to Jimbo, the department's only bloodhound for tracking missing children, was a true illustration of her dedication to the department she joined 22 years ago.

"She took that big, smelly dog out there to her house when no one else would because she felt it was important we have him for missing children," Hogue told the Time >s on Monday.

But the day after Hogue gave that interview, and just hours after Teague told the Times how excited she is about her new assignment, Teague went home and found Jimbo dead. He was 6. A necropsy will be performed.

That detail doesn't matter so much to Teague. All she knows is, Jimbo is gone.

"You talk to her, and it's like a family member died," said Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy. "It was a working dog, but she loved him with all her heart."

The department got Jimbo three years ago through the Jimmy Ryce Foundation. Jimbo couldn't very well sleep at police headquarters.

Administrators put the word out: Anyone willing to take in the dog?

Sure, Teague said in her molasses-like drawl.

"I'll take him."

ABUSED DOG RETURNED HOME: Speaking of dogs: Remember Molly, the Labrador retriever taken from her New Tampa home last month after Animal Services investigators said she was beaten by owner Jaime Enrique Torre for defecating on the lanai?

Well, Molly is back with the Torres family - minus Mr. Torres.

The dog was recently returned to Torres' wife and school-age daughter, after Animal Services investigators confirmed Torres is no longer living in the home. Marti Ryan, a Hillsborough County Animal Services spokeswoman, said they are getting divorced.

"Our investigators were very cautious about keeping the dog until they resolved this situation," Ryan said. "The dog has gone to her better caregivers."

Torres was charged with one count of cruelty to animals after the Oct. 24 incident, in which neighbors reported hearing Molly yelping and seeing her limp around the yard. Investigators say Torres swung Molly by one limb, beat her with a swimming pool cleaning tool and left her in a corner.

He posted $2,000 bond and was released from the county jail within hours of his arrest.

Molly, meanwhile, has recovered.

"That dog is as strong as an ox," Ryan said.

SHERIFF STARTS COLD CASE UNIT: A retired New York police sergeant, a psychiatrist with forensic training, and a retiree who worked the upper ranks of the Division of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are among the civilians revisiting unsolved murders in Hillsborough County.

Homicide detective-turned-sheriff David Gee came up with the idea for a cold case unit late last year while watching a Discovery Channel program about the Cold Case Cowboys, a squad of retired volunteer cops who solved two cold cases in Douglas County, Ore.

Hillsborough's unit is so new, it can't brag about solving any murders yet. But give it time, Gee said.

Detective Chris Fox oversees the group of six volunteers.

The Sheriff's Office has more than 150 unsolved murders dating back to 1956, when a young man named Carl Delong Jr. was violently beaten and left to die after an evening at a known gay bar in downtown Tampa.

The volunteers' task is to go over every detail of old investigation records. They look for witnesses worth revisiting, suspects that merit new attention, and evidence that should be examined with new techniques. Then the group recommends avenues for Fox to pursue.

Fox said the volunteers' backgrounds are "eclectic," but they come to the unit with a common goal.

"Every one of them said they wanted to help a victim and their families."

Contact Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler at 813 226-3373 or svansickler@sptimes.com

[Last modified November 24, 2005, 00:39:29]