Woman cited for leaving dog in hot car while shopping

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A Mount Pleasant woman was cited for leaving her dog inside a hot car while she was shopping in Burlington on Friday.

Crystal Dale Marcos, 41, received an “animal left in a motor vehicle” citation.

At around 10:26 a.m., authorities received a report of a dog left in a vehicle in the parking lot of a department store, located at 3320 Agency St. in Burlington, according to the Burlington Police Department.

An animal control officer went to the scene and found a pitbull inside a vehicle with the windows about a quarter of the way down, according to a citation complaint.

The officer noticed that the dog was panting but was not in immediate distress, the citation states.

The officer then used her infrared thermometer to measure the temperature inside the car and found the interior temperature of the car was 105 degrees, according to the citation.

The officer spoke with the person who reported the dog, who told the officer they noticed the dog inside the car when they arrived at the store, that they were told by employees that the dog had been in the car at least a half hour, and that they were inside the store for approximately 30-45 minutes themselves before reporting the dog to authorities (meaning the dog had been in the car for over one hour), the citation states.

The officer then called a Burlington police officer to the parking lot, ran the car’s license plates, determined the car belonged to Marcos, and that went inside the store to try to locate Marcos.

After the officer went inside the store, Marcos approached the car and went inside of it, according to the citation.

The animal control officer told Marcos she was receiving a citation for leaving the dog inside the car with dangerous temperatures, the citation states.

Marcos told the officer that she wasn’t in the store for long, but the officer explained that, with temperatures outside being close to 90 degrees and with the humidity being very high, it was very dangerous to allow the dog to remain inside the car during those conditions, according to the citation.

Large portions of region were still under an excessive heat warning last week, including on Friday, according to the National Weather Service of the Quad Cities.

A court date for the citation is set for 1 p.m. Sept. 26 at the Des Moines County Courthouse.

If found guilty, Marcos will be fined $300 for the incident.

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