Alleged Firecracker Dog Killer Facing Trip to Jail For Failing Drug Test

A Joliet man who caught a felony case for allegedly using fireworks to blow the face off a pit bull — and was then arrested again for allegedly driving around with even more fireworks and pot — now faces a trip back to jail for testing dirty on a judge-ordered drug test, according to court records.

Ex-convict Nicholas Garcia, 24, has managed to fit all this trouble into about the last month and a half.

Garcia failed a drug test Monday morning and, since he wasn’t around when the results came back, a $100,000 warrant was issued for his arrest. Garcia only had to post 10 percent of a $50,000 bond for allegedly killing the dog. He did have to come up with another $2,500 when prosecutors succeeded in getting his bond raised in response to his subsequent arrest for allegedly possessing fireworks and marijuana.

In addition to losing his freedom for as long as it takes him to scrape together $10,000 bail, the failed drug test will also apparently cost Garcia a lawyer. His attorney, Cosmo Tedone, will withdraw from the case at a Sept. 3 hearing, according to court records.

The dog Garcia allegedly killed last month picked up a lit firework that exploded in its mouth. Garcia and another man were lighting off the explosives in a Jackson Street alley when the pit bull grabbed one as it would a stick, police said. The firework reportedly went off in the dog’s mouth, killing it.

The second man will not be charged in connection with the pit bull’s gruesome death, according to a police source.

Garcia was less than remorseful about the dog’s demise, according to a screenshot of his Facebook page posted by a Patch reader.

“Lightin off the rest of my fireworks n the rerarded neighbors that dont know how to put their dog on leash or keep it fenced in decides to chase a boom stick and lost its head…..NOW they care about their dog,” Garcia’s post said, according to the screenshot.