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Groomer Accused Of Breaking Dog’s Leg Proved Innocent By Video

Written by: Scott H
Scott Haiduc is the Director of Publishing for iHeartDogs, iHeartCats and The Hero Company. When not working, Scott spends his time on the farm, taking care of his animals and crops.Read more
| Published on June 6, 2017

Warning: Video contains graphic content that may be disturbing to some viewers.

Carmen Cesta is the owner of Carm’s Dog House, a dog grooming and daycare facility with a dedicated clientele. The company operates out of one location and several mobile grooming buses, which provides convenient services for the dogs they work with. Despite what seemed like normal business, the evening of May 23rd brought a scathing review from one of their customers.

The customer stated that his family’s dog, Rocky, sustained a broken leg after being groomed by one of Carm’s groomers. The Facebook review was shared over 7,000 times and Cesta began receiving personal threats. He lost at least 100 customers, his business’ parking lot was covered with broken glass from smashed bottles, and people shouted insults at the mobile grooming drivers. Facebook users even threatened to break Cesta’s legs.

The biggest problem is that Cesta knew he and his employees were innocent. Judging by the timeline of events, it wasn’t possible that the groomer that saw Rocky broke his leg. She arrived at his apartment complex at 10:30am and was finished by 11:30am. Carol Oatman, Rocky’s owner, even called 30 minutes later to let Carm’s know that Rocky looked great and she was satisfied with their work.

Suddenly, at 9:23pm, Carm’s received an email from Oatman saying her dog was unable to stand and had cuts and bruises all over his legs – presumably from the clippers. Concerned, Carm’s offered to cover the veterinary bills if they were indeed caused by the grooming. However, on Monday, they heard back from Oatman stating that Rocky’s leg was broken and the groomers were at fault.

 

 


Cesta knew there was no way that the dog’s leg was broken by his groomer. If the pup looked great 30 minutes after the service, it wasn’t possible that his leg was broken at that time. But the Oatmans didn’t like his answer when he informed them Carm’s was not responsible.

Chuck Cesario, Oatman’s son, quickly posted his angry review. “Pleased I beg of you to share this with all your friends on any social media you can to save some other family from going through this tragic event,” Cesario said in the post. “Someone like this should not be in business and should not be able to hurt someone’s family like this.”

This quickly triggered the personal threats and immediately withdrawal of customers that Carm’s suffered. Cesta feared the backlash, regardless of his innocence, would cost him his business and put his employees out of work.

Thankfully, a woman that lives in the same apartment complex as Oatman contacted Carm’s and said she saw a dog get hit by a car that day. She said the accident should be on the complex’s surveillance cameras. Cesta quickly obtained a copy hoping to prove his innocence – and he was lucky.

There on the video was Rocky, wandering around unleashed with one of Oatman’s family members. It shows Rocky being struck twice by an SVU. Apparently, the family member never notified Oatman or Cesario about the accident. Cesario apologized soon after the release of the video, saying he never would have posted his complaint had he known about the accident.

Thankfully, the video brought out many supporters of Carm’s. It’s unfortunate that people so quickly believe everything they read on Facebook and Cesta hopes they will start asking questions before making assumptions. He sends his condolences to Rocky and the Oatmans and hopes that Rocky recovers quickly.

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