OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – A man was sentenced to five years in prison after being caught on camera throwing a dog to the ground in 2024, court records show.

During a news conference last year, then Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez said that on Dec. 24, 2024 deputies responded to the Jamison Loop Apartments in Kissimmee around 10:41 a.m. in regards to an animal abuse complaint.

According to Lopez, apartment management provided deuties with a video that showed Marco Zuluaga, 28, exiting an apartment carrying a small dog before going out of the view of the camera.

When he comes back into view of the camera, he “violently takes the dog over his shoulder, slams her to the concrete. The dog yelped, bounces and takes off running,” Lopez said at the news conference,

According to deputies, Zuluaga said he was mad because the dog went to the bathroom on the rug.

“The amount of force he uses is just disgusting and disturbing and unacceptable,” Lopez said at the time.

The dog was treated and was expected to make a full recovery.

Zuluaga was booked into the Osceola County jail on animal cruelty charges.

Court records from June 6, 2025 show that Zuluaga pleaded no contest to animal cruelty charges and was sentenced to five years in prison.