A Round Lake Park woman has been charged with filing a false police report because she couldn’t afford treatment for her injured dog.
Juana Navarrete, 30, called authorities about 1 p.m. Wednesday and said she had found an injured dog on her front lawn in the 400 block of Kenwood Drive in Round Lake Park, according to a statement from Round Lake Park police.
The responding officer took the dog to Lake County Animal Control, where the dog was given pain medication, police said. Officials found a rabies tag on the dog’s collar that was registered to Navarrete as the owner.
Officers returned to Navarrete’s home and took her into custody, police said. She told investigators she had let the dog out but eventually noticed that it had gone missing.
When she found the dog on the front lawn appearing to be injured, she brought the dog into the house, police said. She told officers she had called with the false story because she couldn’t afford to pay for a veterinarian.
Navarrete was charged with one misdemeanor count each of filing a false police report and animal cruelty, police said. She was released on a personal recognizance bond.