El Paso man arrested for practicing medicine on pets without a license

EL PASO, Texas – Detectives with the El Paso Police Department have arrested a man on charges that he has been practicing veterinary medicine without a license.

Rafael Padilla Marquez, 51, was arrested after an investigation by the police department’s Animal Cruelty Investigations Unit.

Police were alerted after a 3-year-old German shepherd died of kidney failure following a series of injections administered by Marquez in November 2020.

During the investigation, detectives learned that a second dog, a female poodle, had received multiple injections from Marquez.

Marquez was taken into custody on Feb. 12 and booked on two counts of being a non-licensed veterinarian and one count of cruelty and torture to a non-livestock animal.

Anyone who sought veterinarian care from Marquez is asked by police to contact them at (915) 212-0800.