On June 2, 2006 a military jury sentenced Cardona to 90 days hard labor and a reduction in rank for allowing his Belgian shepherd to bark within inches of an Iraqi detainee’s face at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Army Sgt. Santos A. Cardona was the 11th soldier convicted of crimes stemming from the abuse of inmates at the prison in late 2003 and early 2004. He was found guilty of dereliction of duty and aggravated assault for allowing his dog to bark in the face of a kneeling detainee at the request of another soldier who was not an interrogator. The military jury acquitted him of other charges, including unlawfully having his dog bite a detainee and conspiring with another dog handler to frighten prisoners as a game. Cardona was not confined during his sentence, but returned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Cardona’s rank was reduced to specialist and the court ordered him to forfeit $600 a month in pay for 12 months.
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