North Carolina man gets 11 years in case where police dog died
NEW BERN, N.C. — A North Carolina man whose hidden cocaine was found by a police dog that bit into the package and died has been sentenced to more than 11 years in prison.
Federal prosecutors said today a judge ordered 33-year-old Jamie Gonzalez-Lopez to spend 135 months behind bars. He pleaded guilty to several drug charges.
Authorities say undercover federal agents ordered a kilogram of cocaine from Gonzalez-Lopez in July 2011. Gonzalez-Lopez then hid the drugs in a Brunswick County field while waiting to meet the “buyer.”
Agents arrested Gonzalez-Lopez, and a sheriff’s drug-sniffing Belgian Malinois named Viper was sent into the field to find the drugs. Viper accidentally bit into the package and bit and shook it, ingesting a fatal amount of cocaine.
More than 200 people turned out for a memorial service for the dog.
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