Sacramento man who plead guilty to scalding dog sentenced to 10 years for domestic violence, animal cruelty

Ignatius Chavarria at the time of his arrest. | 

August 6, 2018 |

A man who pleaded guilty to domestic violence and animal cruelty was sentenced today in Sacramento Superior Court to a 10-year sentence.

Ignatius Chavarria was sentenced after pleading to felony animal abuse as well as felony domestic violence. His plea involved his admission to committing a violent strike offense. 

According to evidence, in 2013, Chavarria was upset when his girlfriend’s 4-year-old neutered Maltese mix named “Tucker” because he had an accident in his crate after waiting in it to be relieved for several hours. Chavarria abusively scalded Tucker by holding him in a 143-degree hot shower, and then closing the door to confine him without a way to escape. 

Tucker suffered third-degree burns over 80-percent of his body and was euthanized the following day. Initially the case went unreported, but eventually a felony charge was filed. 

After bailing out on the animal abuse case, Chavarria reoffended by body slamming a female date onto concrete pavement. That victim sustained a broken hip, which required surgery. 

Chavarria’s bail was increased, but during his release he was again arrested for domestic violence on a different female victim. 

In their press release announcing the sentence, the Sacramento District Attorney's office noted that 20 years of of statisictal analysis show that 71-percent of abused women report that their partners had killed, abused or threatened to abuse at least one of their animals.

In a 2007 study, 12 different states in the U.S. reported that up to 48-percent of female domestic violence victims stay with their partner because they are worried about the safety of their companion animals. 

After serving his prison sentence, Chavarria will be banned from owning, possessing, residing with, maintaining or caring for any animals for 10 years.