Mayor at center of puppy push-and-pull

A dog, the mayor and the chief of police are at the center of a custody dispute that was addressed by a municipal court judge Tuesday.

The matter involves a Labrador mix named Rocky that was picked up from East Park Street by Mayor Pat M. Ahumada and placed with a “foster family” when his owners could not be contacted, Ahumada said.

Municipal Judge Phil Bellamy on Tuesday signed a temporary order placing Rocky with the family, pending an ownership hearing. “I didn’t want the dog to be in the (dog) pound,” Bellamy said. “The hearing should be in the next few days, more than likely next week.”

Ahumada said he “rescued” the dog this summer after he found it wandering the streets and could not reach his owners.

“I went to where I found the dog and I could not locate its owners,” Ahumada said Tuesday. “I knocked, called the number on a pest control truck that was parked outside the house and left my (business) card. They never called back.”

The mayor, a well-known dog lover, took Rocky to a veterinarian in Matamoros and later placed it with Leticia Grazoria, a neighbor on East Park Street.

The dog’s owner, Daniel Chapa, eventually claimed ownership of the dog and is now fighting to keep him.

Chapa could not be reached for comment for this story.

In the last week, the dog has bounced back and forth between the two homes and the animal shelter.

The matter has escalated between the neighbors and the mayor, including several calls to police.

Last week when Chapa went to Grazoria’s home to claim Rocky, police were called. They decided Chapa could take the dog.

At about 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, the mayor went to the Chapa home on Mesquite Street.

“I told them, ‘I’m the one that rescued the dog,’” he said. “They got aggressive and I left, they started to tailgate me and (I), stopped, parked, got out of my truck and called the police.”

Police Chief Carlos Garcia confirmed the mayor called in the complaint but would not release the police record of it.

At about 2 a.m. on Friday, Rocky found his way back to the Grazoria home. “The dog came back to me,” Leticia Grazoria said. “He’s part of my family.”

That afternoon, the Chapas again tried to recover the dog and the Grazorias called Ahumada for help.

This time, four police detectives, including Criminal Investigations Division Supervisor Jimmy Manrrique, and the chief of police responded. The turnout rivaled resources usually reserved for homicide investigations.

The last time Chief Garcia responded to a call was in September during a possible hostage situation on Rose Court.

Asked if five officers were needed in response to a dog dispute, he said, “No, it did not merit (that). … It wasn’t supposed to.”

Garcia doesn’t usually answer police calls, he said. “If I’m close (by), and it is something that merits me to respond, I will … I limit myself to respond to calls,” he said.

“Definitely, when one of our elected officials (is involved), I’m going to respond. I’ll go.”

Garcia explained that this was the fourth call made to police in reference to this dispute and he wanted to “resolve the issue, move on.”