Welcome to Pinellas County Code Enforcement Special Magistrate Hearings. The special magistrate is charged with conducting hearings to determine whether an alleged violation of the county code has occurred in order to meet that obligation. All parties or their representatives will be allowed an opportunity to be heard on matters relevant to the alleged violation of violations. All witnesses offering testimony presenting evidence will be required to swear or affirm that the testimony they provide is the truth. The order of presentation will begin with the county presenting their evidence of the alleged violation or violations, and then the respondent shall present his or her case. Both parties shall have an opportunity to cross-examine all witnesses. The special magistrate may question any witness. The clerk will announce the names of the cases on the agenda. When you hear your case called, please respond by coming to the podium with your representative and or any witnesses to be sworn in. When addressing the special magistrate, please speak clearly into the microphone. Any person who decides to appeal the decision of the code enforcement special magistrate, with respect to any matter considered, this hearing will need a record of the proceedings, and for such purposes may need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made, which record includes the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is based. Such record is not provided by Pinellas County. You can call. Item 1, Department Animal Services, Matter, Dangerous Dog Classification Appeal, Case Number CCM-26-00044, Owner Thomas D. Wells, Angeliki V. Wells, Notice Address, Thomas D. Wells, Angeliki V. Wells, Dog Owners, 1502 2nd Street North in St. Petersburg, Florida, 33704, and Dominique Brown, Victim, 11383, 86th Avenue, Seminole, Florida, 33772, and Pinellas County Animal Services, Appellee, 12450, Olmerton Road, Largo, Florida, 33774. Magistrate, Ms. Brown is on Zoom. Oh, okay. I was just going to ask that question. You can both come up. Please. I presume you're Colonel Wells and Angelika Wells, right? Yeah, please come up. Come up. And you're going to bring her in Zoom? We're going to do that now? Or you want to wait? I don't need to wait. I'd rather put some of the earlier things first for you. I believe she is on Zoom if we see on our phone. Oh, okay. She's already there, Dominique. Can she hear us yet? Ms. Brown, can you hear us? And if you are able to show the camera, if you can show your camera, please? Yes, I can hear. Just one moment. Thank you. She's hooking up the video. Is that what's going on? Oh, there you go. She should be hooking up her video camera. There we go. Sorry about that. I got kicked out of the meeting. Okay. Okay. Can they see her, one of the others, or at some point? Are you able to see if someone's in? Oh, no. No, no. Those screens are showing. Okay. And how about the middle? Oh, no. There she is. There she is. Okay. All right. Please identify yourself. My name is Lieutenant Joseph Birch. I'm with Pinellas County Animal Services. My name is Thomas Wells. Okay. Is it door going with your wife? Yes. That's right. And men? I'm Gilly E. Wells. Do you prefer to be called Colonel Wells? I'm sorry? Do you prefer to be called Colonel Wells? I'm not picking on that, sir. Okay. I just want to show respect. Thank you, sir. If the three of you could raise your right hand, and hang on one second, might as well, is it Dominique Brown? Am I getting that right? Yes. Okay. If you could raise your right, state your name for the record? Is Brown just... Dominique Brown. Okay. To all of you, do you swear or affirm that any testimony you'll give today would be the truth and nothing but the truth? I do. I do. You can put your hands down. Thank you. Okay. We're here on the appeal. What we're going to do, Mr. and Mrs. Wells, is I'm going to let them put on some documents into evidence. You'll get a right to object to it if you want. Then I'll let you put some documents into evidence. And then they'll put their case on. You'll have a right to cross-examine any witnesses, either one of you. And then you can put your case on. Okay? Yes, sir. You can have a seat now, or you can stand there. As we do the objections, you could, just for the documents, you could stand to the sides totally. We're fine. We're fine, sir. Good morning, Magistrate. We're here today at the request of Thomas Wells, who is appealing to the decision through a sufficient cause of dangerous classification being assigned to his dog, Trudy. Pinellas County does understand this finding is a very difficult one for Mr. Wells. Pinellas County also realizes that everyone in this room is an animal lover. Pinellas County does not make these types of determinations without clear evidence and a thorough investigation being conducted into the facts of the case. Pinellas County believes that dangerous classification are in the best interest of public safety and accountability to actions that have already occurred. According to Florida State Statute 767, dangerous dog means any dog that, according to the records of the appropriate authority, has aggressively bitten, attacked, or endangered, or has inflicted severe injury on a human being on public or private property. Has more than once severely injured or killed a domestic animal while off the owner's property. Or has, when unprovoked, chased or approached a person upon the streets, sidewalks, or any public grounds in a menacing fashion or apparent attitude of attack. Provided that such actions are attested to in a sworn statement by one or more persons and dutifully investigated by the appropriate authority. Unprovoked means that the victim who has been conducting himself or herself peacefully and lawfully has been bitten or chased in a menacing fashion or attacked by a dog. Severe injury means any physical injury that results in broken bones, multiple bites, or disfiguring lacerations requiring sutures or reconstructive surgery. Evidence and information provided here today will illustrate that on April 8th, Trudy caused severe injury to Ms. Brown, who, because of this incident, suffered disfiguring lacerations requiring sutures, and that Ms. Brown was conducting herself lawfully and peacefully. I'm going to go ahead and enter my exhibits now, Magistrate. Yes, I presume. I have a problem with dropping these sometimes. I presume the respondent has copies. You provided copies. They have them. I'm not sure. Did you guys make a records request? I don't know that they've received them. Well, then go slow so they can see them. So, exhibit A will be the animal view report, and I can just leave this out here as long as they need. And this is just an internal document showing all the history the county has had with the animal. This is the first bite you have a record for this dog, correct? That's correct, Magistrate. Any objections? No, sir. Okay, I'm going to accept the county. We'll call that C1, I guess. So, exhibit B will be the county's bite case report. This has to do with the quarantine and rabies prevention associated with bites of domestic animals. And there's multiple pages to this document. I can do them one at a time. Would you refer to this as the animal view report? This would be the bite case report. Bite case report. It has an associated case number, too. Why is that? What's that, Magistrate? It's just one bite, right? So, there's an associated case number being one. The associated case number for this is zero. No, no, no. What's the purpose of it? Oh, basically the purpose is anytime an animal bites in the county, we have to conduct a rabies investigation just to determine no one's at risk for rabies. I'm for their benefit. Sorry, Magistrate. I have multiple pages. We'll give them, put one down and let them look at it. You can just hang on as I go. And so, obviously, this case documents anytime someone called you or came to your house in association with the bite. And this is the last page of that case. Exhibit C for the county. Hold on a second. Sorry, Magistrate. You've got to put them into evidence, right? So, we're going to mark that C, too? I believe I had A and B. I don't have that in front of me. That's all. I have the copies. I don't have A's and B's. These are things you might have done at home or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry, Magistrate. I've already marked the first one. Yes. Okay. Let's mark the first one, A1. We'll call this one A2. And if it's preferable, I can use the A1, 2, 3 if that's preferable. Whatever you've already done, just so I make it. What's the best clerk for that? Yep, 1, 2, 3. Okay. A or C is what we're talking about. I called it C1. He's calling it A1 the first time. Let's do C1. Okay. Okay, so this is C2. This is going to be C2. C2 was the bite case report. Right. So, it's marked C2. There's a C2 on it? I did not put C2 on it. You'll put it on it. Yes. Go ahead. So, the next exhibit would be C3. This is the dangerous dog case report. This has to do with any time that the county believes a bite may fit the requirements for a dangerous dog classification. That's when this case is initiated. There's multiple pages to this as well. I take the top piece and I can put the next one. This is only two pages. You moving that into evidence? Yes, magistrate. Do you have any objection? I'm accepting C3 into evidence. The next would be C4. This is the affidavit. Of Dominique Brown. Okay. So, this is marked C4. I believe. Yes, this was C4. Sorry, I lost track, miss. Okay. You moving it into evidence? Yes, magistrate. Do you have any objection? She's here. You'll be able to cross-examine. No, sir. Okay. C4 is accepted into evidence as a foreign affidavit. I'm going to move C5. This is a photograph of injuries of Dominique Brown. Okay. There's multiple photos, so I can just do one at a time here. Have you seen these before, miss? No, sir. Oh, okay. I can just quickly go through them or just leave them out of here. No, go through them what they are, okay. This was an injury to her leg from a bite. That would be Dominique Brown. Dominique Brown, yes, magistrate. Go ahead. And this is also the leg injury after a suturing, and then this was a bite mark on the upper body, and that's all the photographs for C5. Do you have any objection to C5? C5 is accepted into evidence, the photographs. C6 will be the affidavit of Thomas Wells. I believe you've seen this one, so. I would presume so. He's putting it in. You could use it for your case, okay, just so you know. Yes, sir. You're going to need to put it in again. Do you have any objection to C6? I presume not, right? No, sir. Okay, C6 is accepted into evidence. And that's all the evidence that we'll be entering, magistrate. Okay. Do you have any, okay, that's all you've written besides the testimony right now in terms of documents? That's correct, magistrate. Okay. Mr. and Mrs. Wells, just with regard to documents, I believe you did a memorandum. Yes, sir. And. Just hang on one second. Yes, sir. I have one, one memorandum for the record and another one, April 23rd. These are these. Yes, sir. So what happened was immediately after the bite, I wrote one. And after the next couple of days, I, I amended it because I remember more things. So that's why you have two. Okay. So I guess what I'm saying to you, they're part of the county record. That's why I have it. And do you want to put either one of those into evidence? You want to see them? No, I've seen them. Actually, I have a more detailed summary here, which I'll enter into evidence. You could do that. I'll probably take that. If you don't want to put these into evidence, I don't have to take them. If you prepared another one, you'd want to put into evidence? I have another one I'll use here. Okay. Have you seen this other one? I believe the, the affidavit we have from him was amended 4-11, it says on it. So I, I don't know if it's the most recent amendment. Well, I've got April 23rd and April 8th on the two that were on the public record. Could you show it to Mr. Wells what you got? Was this the most recent amendment? Well, so what I have is actually not an amendment to the memo for record, but a separate letter which details the, the incident for us. So this is, you say a letter? Yes. And have you sent that letter to anybody? No, no, I just, I was going to present it to you today, sir. The, has he, has, no. I'm not saying it, magistrate. I'll take a look. There you go. But you're not represented, Mr. Wells. I want to be fair with you, so I'm probably going to accept it. But let him read it. There. In your closing statement, you could read it into the record if you wanted to, you know, summarize it, whatever you'd like. Magistrate, can we just enter it here as evidence? Well, it's just a written statement. Yes, you can just enter it. Yeah, you can put it under, I'm expecting you to put it in, I'm going to accept it. I'm saying you can also read it if you want to. Thank you, sir. Okay. I have no objections. Okay, how about we mark that document, R1. Do you have another copy, or do you need to, in case you want to read it later? I have another copy. You do? Okay, if you mark that. Yes. You can give it to me. Thank you. The copy we may keep, correct? Correct. Thank you. Any other documents? Yes, sir. For us or for the state? For yourself. You got a photo? Okay. Yes, sir. Thanks. We have two photos. Okay. How about we mark that, what do we call the first one? Give me a second here. It was R1, so it's going to be R2. R1 is the June 14th summary, just for marking it. And R2 is a photo of what? First photo? Right arm. Who's right arm? My right arm on the day of dancing, I'm sorry. Okay. Do we have a copy of his right arm picture? I believe that they did send some pictures, Magistrate. I think I do have the pictures. That's what I was going to say. I've already seen them. Yes, Magistrate. Okay. We'll do it here, then. I'm going to accept the picture here. Okay. I have no objections to it, Magistrate. Okay. You're going to write on the back. The clerk will take care of it for you. Right arm. And what's the other one, I think? This is my back. Okay. This is R3. And what is it, sir? My back on the day of the incident. Right. I've seen both of these photos before. Okay. I presume you have no objections. No objections, Magistrate. They're both into evidence, sir. Do you need these, too? We already have them. We have copies. We have them, but just see that they're more, you know. Okay. And then, Magistrate, I have an evaluation by a dog trainer that I'd like to submit. I'm notarized. Have you seen it? I haven't seen it. I'll take a look, Magistrate. May I explain this? One second. He might not have it. I'll let you explain it. Yes, sir. I have no objections to this, Magistrate. Okay. I'm going to accept the evaluation. And then, Clerk, if you could have that marked R4 and leave it here with me. We also have copies. This is the notarized copy. Yes, if I may have a copy, please. Do you want it admitted page by page on the screen? No, just collectively as R4. Okay. You can keep the notarized one. We could have the copy of the notarized one. That's the original. That's the original. It's okay. You want to keep the original? That's fine. Okay. Thank you. Lastly, we have a description of the training director for this dog training company. So you can look at the particulars if you wish. I have no objections to this, Magistrate. We're going to call the information from the dog trainer I set forth. We did the R4, we'll call that R5, into evidence. Any other documents? No, sir. Okay. Well, then you can proceed with your case. Magistrate, I would like to call my first witness, Dominique Brown. Okay. You could stand wherever you want. I want him to be able to see Ms. Brown, whatever's easier for you. There you go. I'm just trying to see. There you go. You could sit down there. You're going to get to cross-examine her, whatever's easy for you, okay? Thank you, Ms. Brown. And she'll be able to see her through these two other TVs up here, so you don't have to be turned around if you'd like. Okay? Good morning, Ms. Brown. Can you please state your name and address for the record? Yes. Good morning. Dominique Brown, address 11383, 86th Avenue, Seminole, Florida, 33772. Okay. Can you just tell us what happened to you on April 8th, 2026, the day you were attacked? Sure. So, while working, of course, for Amazon, I had a couple of packages that needed to be delivered to their home at the 1502 2nd Avenue. And I went up to the door. I put the packages by the door. As I was doing so, Mr. Wells, he knocked on the window and waved to me, and I waved back. I set the packages on by the door, and I stepped back to take my picture. Then I turned around and proceeded back to the van. As I was going back to the van, that's when I was attacked by their dog, I think he opened the door to get his packages, and that's how the dog got out of the house. He did try to help as much as he possibly could to get the dog, but I think it was just too much at that point. So, I kind of had to fight him off a little bit because Mr. Wells had fallen. Excuse me, not to interrupt you, Ms. Brown, but you said you had to fight him off. Who are you referring to? The dog. The dog. Okay. Yes. Sorry. Go ahead. No problem. Mr. Wells had fallen. And then, after I was able to get him off, I was able to help Mr. Wells up, and I was telling him that, you know, sir, please, you have to get your dog. You know, he's biting me, or whatever. And he did try his best again to, you know, restrain the dog, but again, he ended up losing his balance and falling again. At that point, that's when the dog caught a hold on my leg, and I fell back to the ground on my back, and at that point, I was able to get a good kick to his face, and he kind of sprinted across the yard, and I was able to, at that point, to get up and run to the van and shut the door. By the time I shut the door, the dog was back at the van door, just sitting there, pretty much, but Mr. Wells were able to get the dog in the house at some point, and then he came to the van to assist me with my wound. Okay. Sorry. We were able to call 911 and get them out to assist me further. Okay. Can you just describe what type of injuries you received? I had two bites to the back of my right leg, a bite under my right arm in the armpit area, and then one to my left knee area. Okay. So, you already said it was you and Mr. Wells. Was anyone else present during this attack? There were some passive buyers in the road, in their cars. I couldn't tell you how many it was or who it was. I just seen a couple people in their cars. Okay. What type of treatment did you receive for your injuries? I had got some sutures to my left lower leg, and that was pretty much it. They gave me some pain meds at the hospital and prescribed me some antibiotics to ensure that I didn't get a bacteria infection. Do you recall? Whatever, but that was pretty much it. I'm sorry. Do you recall how many sutures you received? Fifteen. How has this incident affected your life, Ms. Brown? Well, coming into the job position with Amazon, I knew that I would probably come in contact with families who had dogs, of course. To be honest, I've always been afraid of dogs, so this was kind of like my worst fear. It's been a struggle day-to-day, just really trying to get what happened out of my head. Psychologically, I definitely have to seek some help before doing anything else because it's hard sleeping. I get mental pictures just out of the blue sometimes of it happening. I will not go around anyone's dog. I don't care the size or, you know, they say they're friendly. They don't bite. I don't care. I just, I can't be around any dog barking. Kind of, it makes my heart race, I guess, so to speak. It's kind of PTSD if you ask, but yeah, it definitely traumatized me for sure. Okay. Ms. Brown, do you believe this dog should be declared dangerous? Oh, absolutely. Like I said, Mr. Wells, he did his best, I promise you. I have no fault towards him or his wife. I just think the dog is kind of too much for him because even with trying to call him or get him to stop, the dog wasn't listening at all. He seemed to get more and more aggressive the longer outside of the van, and it was to the point to where the passive buyers, they wouldn't even get out of their cars to help because they were afraid. So I definitely believe the dog is dangerous for sure. Is there anything else you would like to share regarding this case, Ms. Brown? I would like to apologize to them that they're even in this situation. I'm sorry. Because I'm quite sure they love their dog, but for the safety of everyone else that may encounter him, I just don't want anyone to have to go through what I want to do. Okay. Thank you, Ms. Brown. No further questions from the county magistrate. Ms. Brown, this is the magistrate. Do you have a scar from any of this? I do. I have a scar up under my right arm and my left lower leg. I'm sorry, your left leg by the knee? Yeah, my left leg and up under my right armpit. Thank you. I don't have any other questions. Mr. Wells, do you have any questions, cross-examination for Ms. Brown? If you could come up, please. You could both come up. Sir, I don't have any questions from Ms. Brown, do you? I do have a comment to make, which is, Ms. Brown, I'm very, very sorry this happened to you. I distinctly recall seeing you through the window. I knocked as you dropped off the package. You had a nice smile. I just, I was horrified about what happened. So I feel very bad about this. My wife and I do. We're sorry about your injuries. We're sorry about any fear or trauma that you experienced. And I have prayed for you, for your recovery, and for everyone involved. Thank you, guys. Mr. Birch, can we let Ms. Brown go, or do you have any redirect? I have no redirect for Ms. Brown. Can we let her go? Yes. Now, if we let her go, you're not going to be able to ask her additional questions later. Are you fine? No, I understand, sir. Okay. Can we do that then? Yes. Yeah. I don't know if Ms. Brown would like to just hear the case. Yeah, she could hear the case. I'm just saying she wants to go. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. She was losing bandwidth a few seconds ago. Ms. Brown, if you'd like, your testimony's over. So you could either log off, or you can stay in the background and listen. But you'll be on mute the whole time, okay? It's up to you. Okay, thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Brown. I just have a closing statement, magistrate. Why don't you hold that while they put their case on, then I'll let you do it. Mr. and Mrs. Wells? Yes, sir. This is your opportunity to put on any additional evidence, okay? If you don't have any additional evidence, you could testify as to what happened, that's for sure. You want to tell me the story of what happened, okay, what's in your outfidavid, or any other evidence you want to put on. All right. Thank you, magistrate. And I'll give you, then he'll come in and put a summary, and then you can do a summary. Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you, sir. So you got the floor. So my wife and I, of course, want to appeal this designation as a dangerous dog. Yes. Just a little background on the dog, we adopted her from a Lackland Air Force base two years ago from the U.S. military. They do not adopt dogs out unless they deem them to be safe for adoption. And we've had her for two years without any problems. Now, with regard to the incident of April 8th, there's no question that the dog was able to slip past me at the door and ran after Ms. Brown. Now, and by the way, I'm certainly not blaming Ms. Brown, but when my dog ran out, at that point, she did run, and she did vocalize, and I think my dog got excited by that and then chased her, as dogs are wont to do, I went out, and I put myself between the dog and Ms. Brown while I was trying to control my dog. And again, not blame, but Ms. Brown did grab my shoulders, my arm, and she's trying to get away from the dog, certainly. And I ended up falling or being pushed to the ground, whatever, but it's something like that, and I did sustain a small wound to my right arm. Now, I'm not comparing wounds. I'm certainly not doing that, and I'm not blaming Ms. Brown, but what I'm trying to give you the picture of is that my dog would then perceive that as an attack. So, this is, I think, provocation, and I think your terminology in the law is provoked bite or provoked attack. I think, inadvertently, it was provoked by that, by me being pushed down, falling down, and sustaining a wound to my arm, and you have the picture of that. Now, other times, my dog's played well with children. We've watched in the neighborhood in a good heel position. She does not react to other people, to strollers, to bicycles, to other dogs. Just one testimony at a time, okay. The record has to pick it up, that's why. If you want to speak when he's done, I'm glad to give it to you. And, by the way, this wound on my arm, it's not in the animal control report, and I think the officer who made the report, maybe if he had seen that, he would have written that report differently. Maybe he would have seen it as a provoked attack. So, why lift the dangerous dog designation? Number one, we don't think our dog is dangerous. We think this is an unfortunate one-off. Number two, our dog has been assessed by Amanda Hansen of To the Rescue Dog Training, and we gave you a copy of that report. And she specializes in police canine to house pet transitions, and she determined the dog is not dangerous. Number three, that agency does have a three-week obedience course for dogs, and my dog's there now. Fourth, lifting this designation allows us to train and walk the dog in public, which will further improve her. Number five, this is an active dog who needs time and space outside for good health behavior. And sixth, we have some additional training and environmental controls planned that Amanda Hansen recommended. One is extra barriers, including putting a fence out at the sidewalk, and delivery can be made to a box there for Amazon, other agencies, and, for instance, the letter carriers. We can get an electronic fence for the front door, and behaviorally for the owners here, we won't open the door anymore until the delivery personnel and letter carriers are in their trucks and have left. And finally, a dog has gotten special door training with a specialist. So that really concludes what I had to say, sir. I just have a question to Mr. Wells. Yes, sir. Okay. Now, you're stating that the actions of Dominique Brown is why your dog did what he did. Is that what you're saying? That's what I'm thinking. Yes, sir. So she just left the package, right? That's right, sir. And she took a picture of that. Yes, sir. And then she was leaving. Yes, sir. Did she do anything else wrong? Well, I... Well, you're just answering in your psychology of the dog, that's why the dog did what he did. First of all, I'm not saying she did anything wrong. So that's number one. But second, when she grabbed me, if you might watch, when she grabbed me here, and again, it's not blame, and she caused a wound to my right arm, and I ended up falling to the ground, I think that was provocation for the dog. Provocation, in other words, that's what the dog was thinking. I mean, Ms. Brown didn't do anything wrong. Just act it. Didn't Ms. Brown's behavior in any way annoying to the dog or provocation to the dog? Did she do something wrong? Well, I think the dog, you know, anybody with dogs, when you run from a dog and you vocalize, I think they get excited. Correct. But you don't think it was reasonable that this dog came out aggressively at her and she tried to run from it? Did you think that was non-predictable? Okay, it came out aggressively. I presume she testified to that. Okay, well, I suppose that's opinion. I think the dog... I'm not trying, I'm just trying to... No, I understand what you're, you're trying to get a picture of the event. And as best I can recall it, usually I can open the door and the dog's behind me and there's no issue. But that day he ran out and she's a 50-pound dog and for some people that's frightening. And some people run and they'll vocalize and that excites the dog more. And when I saw that, I thought, oh my gosh. And I ran out and got in between the two as best I could. Okay, let me ask you some of this. And I'll be done asking your questions. Yes, sir. Pretty much. And she was lawfully on the property dropping off the Amazon, right? Absolutely, sir. Right. She wasn't tormenting the dog, was she? No, sir. Abusing the dog? No, sir. Or assaulting the dog in any way? No, sir. Okay, so these are all things that you're answering for the reason the dog did what the dog did. Right. So the only things that might have excited the dog and caused the bite was, well, exciting the dog is running from her and vocalizing. That's number one. But the bite, when I was grabbed and I sustained a wound, I think that provoked the actual bites. Right. No, I understand that point. Okay. Yes, sir. Anything else you want to say? No, sir. First examination, Mr. Birch? I have no calls, sir. Mrs. Wells, anything you want to add to take your time? Yes. I'm a public school teacher, and I came immediately after the, I dismissed my students at 3.30 and came straight home. And when I came home, there was an animal control vehicle parked down the street, and I thought that was odd. And I came in the house, and I saw my husband with Trudy on the leash, and he was bleeding from his left arm. Right arm. You're sitting on the computer. Right arm. I got a second. He was bleeding from his arm, his T-shirt was torn, and I asked what happened. And so he told me that Trudy got out the door and that the Amazon driver screamed in fear and that when he tried to intervene, that that's how he, Ms. Dominique, and I'm not blaming her. She was afraid, and I might have reacted in a, I'm not afraid of dogs, but if I had been afraid of dogs, I might have reacted in the, I don't want to sound like I'm blaming the victim. No, no, I got that. I'm very sympathetic to the victim. I didn't take that from me. I didn't want to be blaming the victim. And, but I believe, according to Tom's story, and he does not, he's, he's been to war for our country five times. He's seen a lot of trauma in his life, so he doesn't overreact or overstate, and he states facts very clearly. So, um, his words were that, that in her fear, she grabbed him and threw him down several times, and I believe, I've, I've not seen Trudy act aggressively before. I believe, as, um, a dog very attached to his handler and his owners, that Trudy perceived that as an attack on Tom. And I don't believe we could replicate that, or I, one of the canine officers at our, at my school, um, Officer Barbara Bauer, I went to her and I explained the situation. I said, I don't want this to ever happen again. This terrible thing happened, and please give me your perspective as a canine officer. She's the one that recommended, um, Miss Amanda Hanson. She said, this is where I train my, where I, where I, um, I've had a lot of experience with this person, and she specializes in taking working dogs, um, and, um, and police canines and transitioning them to a home environment. And so I called Miss Hanson, and she did an evaluation of our home and an evaluation of our dog. This is the one I have here? Yes. Okay. Um, so, um, we take this very, very seriously. Our, we're a military family. I'm a teacher. We don't want the public harmed. We, we, we're not prioritizing our dog, um, and do, absolutely do not believe that Trudy would bite again. But we're taking every precaution. We're taking all of, um, Miss Hanson's suggestions. We've ordered a fence to go around the front, um, in a delivery package so that people would, will not even come to the front door. She's fine with friends and family. She's never, she's never at the door been aggressive to friends and family who have come in, or even strangers coming into our house for the first time. Um, but, uh, I, I asked him, Miss Hanson, what could have caused this? What did we do? What, how could we prevent this in the future? And so, um, she gives a very detailed report. Um, she did a analysis of Trudy in the home, um, and then told us several things. Again, the double gate in the front. We've already installed a double gate to the, to the side of the house, um, we're installing an electric, um, fence barrier so she doesn't get close to the front door or the, uh, it's, it's, uh, Invisalign, um, and they're, they work by, by GPS, so it's very, um, um, accurate. So she, she will not, um, be able to be near the front door or around the perimeter of the, of the fences. Um, she has training. So, uh, Miss, uh, Hanson, um, she's away, Trudy is away for three weeks with this training. And she's not only doing basic obedience and because Trudy already does have basic obedience. She walks at a perfect heel when I walk her. She doesn't react to, to other dogs, to children, to strollers. Um, but what she's, but what Miss Hanson is specifically working on is, um, obedience so that that dog does not, um, does not cross and exit, um, a doorway, a gate without a verbal command and eye contact from us. Um, she's, she told me that, um, uh, as an update that Trudy's doing very well with that training and is a very, um, intelligent dog as most, um, Malinois are, um, she's a very intelligent dog and she's responding to the training quite well. So it's your understanding that 911 was called and animal control came out, right? And that's who Miss Hanson is. I mean, that's who Officer Hanson is, right? One of the, and is the recommendation she gave you to go to the, get further training? My, I'm, um, the, the officer at my school where I teach is a canine officer. We all, we have two officers. We have Officer Blossom who just won the Pinellas County. Yeah, well, let me, let me ask it easier. Is your understanding that 911 had been called to this incident? Is that your understanding? That's how animal control got there? Yes. Okay, if she could just answer the question for the, for the record, because it's hard to follow. Okay, so 911 was called and then animal control also came, right? Yes. Then you had this conversation with the officer about training. This long conversation, you told me you should get more training. This was her recommendation. No, it wasn't that officer who made the recommendation. When I went to school the next day, I, I, I asked, um, um, officer Barbara Bauer, who's a canine officer, and I asked her because she has expertise with, with dogs, and I, and I, um, I asked her for her counsel and who she knows that could help me in this situation. Okay, I was just trying to get, I thought I had missed something in there. Okay, um, no, I appreciate that. I have no further, anything else, Ms. Walls? I have one. So, um, so the officer you're speaking about who made these recommendations does not work for animal control, that's correct? Oh, okay, because that was my confusion. Okay. So, this officer you're referring to is employed by a police department, it's like a school resource officer at your school, is that correct? That's all, Magistrate. Do you have any other questions? No other questions, Magistrate. Okay, thank you. Um, anything else, you want to, anything else? Um, well, what's going to happen is he's going to give a closing statement, and then you can come up and, yes, sir, does that work? Thank you. Thank you, sir. Sure. Okay. Pinellas County believes it has proven that Trudy is a threat to public safety. The state statute lists five reasons why a dog may not be declared dangerous. Running and screaming is not one of them. Ms. Brown was lawfully on the property, was not abusing, tormenting, or assaulting the dog owner. The dog's perception of a threat does not make it so. Ongoing training after April 8th is great, but we're addressing the actions and events that occurred on April 8th. The county further believes that if the dangerous dog classification is not upheld, Trudy will attack and possibly inflict injury or death on an animal or person in the future. Thank you. Mr. and Mrs. Wells. First of all, we don't want any more injuries to anybody like Ms. Brown. Nice young lady. We don't want that to happen. But our point is that this was, we consider, a provoked attack. It wasn't just about running and screaming. I was pushed down, I sustained a wound, and the dog reacts to that. And then, yes, all this training was after the fact, but it is to ensure that our dog behaves well. And beyond that, we want to do some environmental, some hardware and environmental measures to make sure that this incident never happens again. Thank you, sir. Anything else? Ms. Wells, you good? I'm going to consider the public portion. You can let Ms. Brown go now. You can tell if it's over. Is she still there? Communications, is Ms. Brown still there? Yes, I'm here. Ms. Brown, the public portion, and this is for everyone here, of this hearing is now over. Okay, so, and I will render, I have 20 days, I believe, to render the decision. You'll get that in the mail. Yes. So you can disconnect, Ms. Brown. I just didn't want you to press the button. Thank you. Okay, the clerk can tell you what's going to happen now in terms of getting an order, what will happen. You get their email address, too. Yes, I believe we have your email address, as well as you're going to receive a certified copy of the order, as well as a regular first class mail order. Okay, you're all set. All right. You're welcome. Thank you. Magistrate, can we go offline for, like, five, ten minutes? Communications. You're welcome. Communications, please stop recording. You can go right into the first case. Okay. Item number two, department code enforcement. Matter, minimum housing code violation. Trash and debris code violation. Zoning code violation. Case number CCM-26-00043. Officer B. Hughes. Owner, Ward Linda J. A. State. Notice address. Ward Julian G. 3100, 54th Avenue North, St. Petersburg, Florida. 33714-2420. And B. Hughes, Special Magistrate Officer, Pinellas County Code Enforcement. 631 Chestnut Street, Florida, Florida. 33756-33756. B. Hughes at Pinellas.gov. Violation address. 3100, 5100, 54th Avenue North, St. Petersburg, Florida, 33714. Is anyone here regarding the matter at 3100, 54th Avenue North, St. Petersburg? Sir, if the record reflect that no one responded to the call. And this would also anyone have any business with or have any interest in the estate of Linda Ward. Okay. The record reflect that no one has appeared. Officer, if you could state your name for the record. Officer Hughes. Officer, your full name, Officer Hughes. Officer Beth Hughes. Okay. Please raise your hand. Do you swear if I'm that any testimony you give today be the truth and nothing but the truth? I do. You may proceed. Thank you. So the property where the alleged violation exists is at 3100, 54th Avenue North, St. Petersburg, Florida, 33714, located in unincorporated Pinellas County. The owner, Linda Ward Estate, is not present for today's hearing or represented. The violations have been in occurrence since on or before November 18th of 2025, and I would like to enter the Notice of Hearing, Affidavit of Violation, and Composite Exhibit A into Evidence, which includes the Notice of Violations, Pinellas County Tax Collector, Property Appraiser, the deed, and the violation photos. You may proceed, and you can do them collectively as a group, correct? Thank you. So I'll just move forward to the photos showing the violation pictures. We have the minimum housing, just showing some chip-peeling paint, a roof that's diminished, showing the trusses through. It appears that there is a leak, water leak, on the property, which I have notified the Water Utility Department so they can get that turned off. The property has been vacant every time I've gone by. I've left my card multiple times, and, of course, the postings with no contact. So those are the minimum housing violations. Right. The trash and debris violations. There's trash and debris throughout the property. There's a limb that's fallen on top of the roof, just, again, overgrowth and different types of debris. There's a fence that's in disrepair, basically with the bent top rails, the gate that's falling off, and the missing top rail. So, Magistrate, the property was re-inspected on May 27th, and the violations continue. Photos were taken on that date, and I would like to submit them as Composite Exhibit B. And that would be May 27th, 26th, correct? Yes. Before we get there, so it's your understanding that Linda Ward, one of the joint owners, is deceased? So, sir, initially the property was the notice of violations were sent to both individuals on the deed. Right. I noticed that both individuals are deceased. Both are deceased? Yes, sir. As a result of that, I notified Pinellas County property appraiser, and in between taking it for the original time until today, we went ahead and re-noticed the notice of hearing because it's now in the estate. That is, that had changed. Okay, and both, both, both parties are in the estate? Both parties were noticed on the deed. Okay. And it is now, because they're both deceased, it's now in the name of the estate. Okay, so we're going to call that, you've marked that collectively as C1? Actually, I would like to submit Exhibit B. I'm not up to that yet. I'm on Exhibit A. Okay, so you're calling it Exhibit A? Yes, I apologize. The notice of hearing, the notice of violations, and the first violation photos were Exhibit A. Okay, Exhibit A is accepted into evidence. Please proceed. Okay, these are the photos on the re-inspection. On May 27th of 2026, and I would like to submit those as Composite Exhibit B. Okay. There's been no change? Yeah, so basically, there's no change. Again, you've got the diminished roof with the truss showing the chip-peeling paint, the algae-like substance from the water leak, trash and debris is still present, the branch is still on the roof that has fallen, quite a bit of overgrowth and debris. Nothing's changed, yeah. So, yeah, nothing's changed. The fence is still in disrepair. I'm accepting Exhibit B into evidence. Go ahead. Thank you. So, Magistrate, the county requests that you find the property in violation and issue an order to have the property brought into compliance. And you're looking for what? We are, I'm asking, or the county is asking for the allowance of 30 days to comply and if still found in violation, assign a daily fine amount of $100 per day for Code Sections 22-299, 58-304, 138-3703, and award the county costs of $222.46. Okay, $222.46, you said? Yes, sir. We're going to be 30 days, and you're seeking $100 per day, right? Yes, sir. Okay, anything else? No, sir. That could be fantastic. Consider the public portion of the hearing closed. Magistrate, 30 days is Wednesday, July 15, 2026. Okay. I'm going to consider the public portion of the hearing closed. I'm going to find that the respondent is in violation with regard to the minimum housing violations, 22-299. I'm opposing a fine of $100 a day. However, if there's compliance by July 15, 2026, by 5 p.m., that fine can be abated. Similarly, with regard to the trash and debris, 58-304, I'm going to find that the respondent is in violation. I'm going to pose a fine of $100 a day. That fine can be abated if there's compliance by July 15, 2026, 5 p.m. With regard to the zoning violation, which is defense, 138-3703. I find that the respondent is in violation and pose a fine of $100 a day. That fine can be abated if there's compliance within 30 days, and that would be by July 15, 2026, by 5 p.m. And costs are ordered to the county, $222.56. Thank you, magistrate. Thank you, officer. Magistrate? Yes. You said the court cost was $222.46? Yeah, did I get that wrong? I heard 56. 56 cents. Which way does the dime go? $222.46 is what was in the system. Okay. Thank you. Trying to get an extra dime for the county. Thank you, magistrate. Thank you. The others are rescheduled, right, the other two? Yes. So we're done? Okay. Yes, except for the lien reductions, but that's off the record. Okay. So we can go off the record then. Communications, please stop recording.