Fernandes will return to court on Oct. 26 for a pretrial conference.
PALMER – The owner of two dogs that last month attacked a 7-year-old girl and touched off a territorial dispute between Ludlow and Springfield officials was in Palmer District Court Thursday for another incident involving a loose dog.
Bruno Fernandes told the court that he was dog-sitting the deaf, female dog for his father’s tenant.
“The dog was not mine,” Fernandes, 33, said.
Fernandes represented himself before Judge Patricia T. Poehler on charges of threatening to commit a crime (assault), disorderly conduct and intimidating a witness related to his arrest Wednesday night. An innocent plea was entered on his behalf.
His next court date is Oct. 26 for a pretrial conference.
Wearing a pink T-shirt, Fernandes asked Poehler to be released, saying “I’ve got a lot of stuff to do.”
Poehler released Fernandes, and told him to stay away from Ludlow’s animal control officer and her daughter, and to not commit a crime.
Prosecutor Christopher White argued unsuccessfully for bail to be set at $1,500, saying Fernandes has a history of “assaultive behavior.”
White said Fernandes was uncooperative when police and the animal control officer went to his home at 190 Lakeview Ave. in Ludlow about the loose dog. White said Fernandes threatened the animal control officer, and was “uncooperative” and “unruly” and used profanities.
“You better sleep well because we know where you live,” White said Fernandes allegedly told the animal control officer.
Fernandes said he was dog-sitting for his father’s tenant in Chicopee, which was why he had a dog at his house. Fernandes said he was on the phone during the incident because he was trying to leave a voicemail for the dog’s owner about what was happening, as the animal control officer was taking custody of the dog.
He was arrested at his home at about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to Ludlow police Sgt. Daniel Valadas. The dog running loose on his property did not harm anyone, but Fernandes was arrested when he threatened to attack the Ludlow animal control officer, Valadas said. Police were called to Lakeview Avenue when neighbors called to complain a dog, described in the incident report as “a white pit bull mix” named Suki, was running free and not listening to its owner, Valadas said.
Officers responding to the scene called for the town animal control officer. Neighbors have filed more than 10 animal complaints about Fernandes over the last year.
On Aug. 26, two of his dogs, named Dora the Explorer and Princess, attacked a 7-year-old girl in front of her grandparents’ house at 177 Lakeview. The two dogs, initially called pit bulls by police, turned out to be mixed breed boxer and Mastiff dogs, each weighing about 75 pounds.
The girl suffered a bite to the stomach and was required to begin rabies treatments because Dora the Explorer and Princess were not up to date on their shots.
At a Board of Selectmen hearing after the incident, Fernandes was fined for allowing a dog under quarantine to run loose, for failing to keep the dogs up-to-date on their rabies vaccinations, and for letting a dog bite a child off his property.
In a move that generated controversy, selectmen allowed the dogs to be returned to Fernandes, as long as he agreed to keep them out of Ludlow.
Fernandes told the selectmen he would keep the two dogs at his property at 1213 Worcester St. in the Indian Orchard section of Springfield, although when this was publicized, Springfield officials immediately cried foul.
Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno called a press conference in Indian Orchard to declare he was outraged another community using Springfield as “a dumping ground” for its own problems. He said he directed the law department, police, city clerk and animal control officers to block the dogs from coming to Springfield.
Staff writer Patrick Johnson contributed to this story.