(April 16, 2025) — On April 12, 2025, at around 8:41 AM, officers working for the Cape Coral Police Department were called to Rotary Park Dog Park in Cape Coral, Florida. The caller said a woman in her sixties wearing a blue shirt, pink shorts, and flip-flops was walking a brown and white medium-sized dog and was spraying something at multiple dogs. They said one of the dogs had to have its eyes flushed due to the substance sprayed on its face.
Officers arrived at the park and talked to a witness, who pointed out the woman who had sprayed multiple dogs within the confines of the park. That witness said she walked around the outside of the fence, and when a dog within the park (contained by the fence) approached her and her dog, she would spray some kind of chemical at the dog. It should be noted that the dog park is surrounded by a five-foot fence on all sides. Other witnesses approached the officers saying the same woman was spraying their dogs with what appeared to be mace (pepper spray).
Another witness told officers a dog was sprayed in the eyes and was yelping, crying, and trying to rub its eyes in the dirt. The witness said he helped the owner wash the dog’s eyes out with a hose. He also said the woman had sprayed multiple other dogs on other occasions. Yet another witness said the woman admitted to spraying dogs if they get too close to the fence.
The dog’s owners told officers they had to drag the dog to the hose to spray his eyes, and the woman was the only one in the vicinity of the incident.
Officers made contact with the woman, identified as Charlene J Tedesco (DOB 10/19/1957). They told her multiple people said she was pepper spraying their dogs through the fence. Tedesco told officers she sprays the dogs’ feet with pepper spray because she’s worried they’ll attack her. She said she does not enter the fenced-in dog park but walks around the outside of it.
Officers determined Tedesco drove to the dog park, approached the fenced-in area, was never in danger due to there being a barrier (fence) between her and the dogs playing within the park, and utilized pepper spray on the dogs, causing torment.
Officers took Charlene J Tedesco (DOB 10/19/1957) to the Lee County Jail on the following charge:
 — 1 count in violation of F.S.S 828.18 (1) – Animal CrueltyÂ
She was also issued a trespass warning and told she could not return to the park.
Arrested: Charlene J Tedesco (DOB 10/19/1957)