Former Boone County deputy accused of causing death of canine left in hot truck

A former Boone County Sheriff’s K-9 officer is accused of causing the death of his canine, Bear, who he left in his vehicle for 22 hours on a 89-degree night without food, water and ventilation.

Former Sgt. Dallas Nash Wingate, 50, of Madrid, who had been a K-9 officer and trainer for 14 to 15 years, was charged Tuesday in Story County District Court with one count of injury or interference of a police dog service.

According to a criminal complaint, Wingate, who resigned Sept. 8 after being placed on administrative leave, is accused of putting Bear in his truck that was parked outside his home at about 10 p.m. on Sept. 1, 2022. The next day — Sept. 2 — at about 8 p.m., he went to feed his other dogs and discovered Bear wasn’t in his run.

Wingate told Sheriff Elsberry he then recalled placing Bear in the back kennel area of his patrol truck because the dog was barking at a deer, a search warrant affidavit stated. Wingate found Bear dead about 8 p.m. Sept. 2.

Wingate is accused of knowingly failing to provide Bear with food, water and proper ventilation on Sept. 1, and failing to let the dog out on Sept. 2, 2022, according to the complaint.

The extreme heat and environment with no access to water and ventilation caused the death of Bear, the complaint stated.

Wingate told investigators it was normal procedure to place Bear in his patrol vehicle overnight and let him out in the morning, the complaint stated. Bear was last seen alive about 9:45 a.m. Sept. 2, although the complaint doesn’t specify who saw him alive.

The weather conditions at the Fort Dodge weather station at 3:56 p.m. Sept. 2, reported a temperature of 91 degrees, according to the complaint. The Des Moines International Airport reported weather conditions at 3:54 p.m. to be 89 degrees.

Elsberry and Wingate took Bear to the Boone Veterinary Hospital on Sept. 2, after Wingate found the animal in his truck. A veterinarian then took the dog to Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine for a necropsy — autopsy for animals.

When an Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation special agent went to interview Wingate at his home, he saw a camera secured to a utility pole that would have shown the patrol truck parked outside the residence, according to the warrant affidavit. Wingate wasn’t interviewed that day, but he was on Sept. 6, 2022. When the DCI agent asked Wingate about the camera system, Wingate said it had been down a couple of months.

Wingate attempted to access the system on his cellphone but said he couldn’t access it, according to the affidavit.

On Sept. 28, the DCI agent spoke to Amanda Wingate, Dallas’ wife at the time, about the camera system but she said her husband was the only person who had access to the system.

Investigators obtained the search warrant to access the camera system’s stored data, which is usually maintained on a cloud-based system that is controlled by another entity, in this case, Amazon. The warrant doesn’t indicate if they accessed it or what they may have found.

According to the complaint, Wingate’s patrol truck was parked about 65 feet from the south door to the house.

Cellphone data showed Wingate was in his residence during the morning hours of Sept. 2, 2022 and then back to the house at 3:11 p.m. and he “still failed to remove K-9 Officer Bear from the patrol truck,” the complaint stated. There was no additional cell tower activity to Wingate’s cell from 3:11 p.m. through 9:01 p.m. on Sept. 2.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com