QUEENS — A bodybuilder convicted of killing his Chinese Shar-Pei by tossing the dog out an Astoria window is now facing deportation.
Milan Rysa pleaded guilty to second-degree reckless endangerment for the September 2011 death of his 50-pound dog, Brooklyn, who plummeted from a third-floor apartment window on Steinway Street.
Rysa, 31, was released in April after serving two-thirds of his yearlong sentence, officials said.
But now, based on that conviction, immigration officials have set a deportation hearing for May that could land him back in his native Czech Republic.
City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., an animal rights advocate who is pressing for Rysa's deportation, expressed shock that Rysa had not been sent home already.
“It’s kind of amazing that someone convicted of this sort of heinous crime isn’t automatically deported,” said Vallone, who described Rysa as an "illegal alien."
Calls to Rysa's lawyer were not returned as of Friday morning, and his precise immigration status was unclear.
But even immigrants with valid U.S. visas and green cards can be deported if they are convicted of certain crimes, including drug and sex offenses, or crimes of moral turpitude.
In the case of undocumented immigrants, after they serve their sentence, the U.S. Department of Justice decides whether to deport them. In almost all cases, undocumented immigrants are deported, according to officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
Vallone, who wrote a letter to ICE arguing for Rysa's deportation, said he intends to "make sure that this judge does the right thing and throws him out of the country.”
“The canine nearly struck two women before hitting the pavement,” wrote Vallone, who has urged the public to write similar letters.
