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A Hialeah, Florida woman faces three felony counts of animal cruelty after surveillance video captured her repeatedly beating a dog and suspending it upside down by its legs, according to police.
Miriam Yilian De La Rosa appeared in bond court, where Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Mindy Glazer found probable cause, set bond at $2,500 per count, totaling $7,500, and appointed a public defender. Glazer also ordered De La Rosa to stay away from the animal.
The initial incident happened on September 16, 2026, at the Metro Parc apartments at 952 East 26th Street. Surveillance footage showed De La Rosa maneuvering two dogs in a stroller while attempting to nudge a third dog through a door with her foot.
When that dog slipped out of its collar and ran, police said De La Rosa chased it, grabbed it roughly, and suspended it upside down by its neck and legs.
Police reported two additional incidents of what they called repeated and excessive physical abuse at the building.
In one, De La Rosa allegedly struck the dog in the face eight times in an unprovoked attack while walking it.
In another, after the dog relieved itself in an elevator, De La Rosa reportedly hit it 10 times and held it by its legs.
De La Rosa told police she had been fostering the dog for the past two months after learning it had been previously abused.
Miami-Dade Animal Services confirmed that all three dogs are now in its care, but could not confirm what foster program the victim dog belonged to.
Neighbor Noelbis Delaroz, who owns a 14-year-old Chihuahua, expressed dismay over the allegations. “I treat my dog like my own family. I could never hurt or mistreat her, not for anything in the world,” Delaroz said. “For a person to mistreat an animal like that, it is horrible.”
Another neighbor, Ruben Pobada, said he recognized the suspect but had never seen her hit any of her animals before he was shown the surveillance footage. “I don’t understand when the people fight the dogs. If you have 3 dogs, it’s because you love the dogs,” Pobada said. “It’s not logical. I never. My dog is my kid, my daughter.”
De La Rosa is charged with third-degree felony animal cruelty with intent to injure. Each count carries a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
My thoughts:
What’s especially hard about this one is the detail that the dog had reportedly already been abused before it came into De La Rosa’s care, meaning the fostering arrangement was supposed to be a step toward safety, not a continuation of the same pattern.
The elevator footage with the on-screen label is also worth noting: this wasn’t a single lapse caught by chance, it was recorded across multiple incidents in a shared building space, which suggests a pattern that played out in view of a system (building surveillance) that existed for an entirely different purpose.
Neighbor Pobada’s comment is a useful reminder too, that visible affection toward some pets doesn’t rule out abuse of others, since he’d known De La Rosa and never suspected anything until he saw the video himself.
Source: CBS News Miami, reporting by Peter D’Oench and Abby Dodge, based on information from Hialeah Police
