Santos Cardona Santos A . Cardona ( 1974 - 28 February 2009 ) was a sergeant in the United States Army . He was one of the members of the U . S . military police personnel who were charged with torturing prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq . Military career . Cardona joined the United States Army in 1993 at the age of 17 , needing his father ' s signature as a waiver to join . His career led him to become a dog handler , a job he performed on deployments to Kosovo , Iraq , and later , as a government contractor in Afghanistan . His duties as a dog handler included both security , and also use of the canine ' s sense of smell to locate explosives , both improvised explosive devices ( IED s ) and unexploded ordnance ( UXO ) . While deployed to Iraq , Cardona was accused of using his Belgian Malinois dog " Duco " , to threaten Iraqis in Abu Ghraib prison . Photos of the event were later made public . In May 2006 he was convicted of dereliction of duty and aggravated assault , the equivalent of a felony in the U . S . civilian justice system . The prosecution demanded prison time , but a military judge imposed a fine and reduction in rank , and he was required to serve 90 days of hard labor at Fort Bragg , North Carolina . After his release he was transferred to a new unit and was promoted to Sergeant . He was then assigned to the 23rd MP Company that was staged in Kuwait as of November 2 , 2006 . He arrived in Kuwait with his unit and was selected to train Iraqi police . On November 3 , 2006 , Lt . Col . Josslyn L . Aberle , chief of media operations for the Multi - National Force in Iraq , stated on behalf of the Pentagon that Cardona ' s movement with his unit into Iraq from a staging area in Kuwait had been stopped and that " he ' s not coming to Iraq , and will depart Kuwait and will return to Fort Bragg immediately where he will be assigned duties commensurate with his Military Occupation Specialty and rank that allows him to be a productive member of the military police corps and the United States Army . " Following his return to Fort Bragg , Cardona worked at the Army dog kennels . Cardona needed 5 more years of military service in order to gain full retirement benefits , but was unable to re - enlist due to provisions of his conviction for the incidents at Abu - Ghraib prison in Iraq . On September 29 , 2007 , Cardona left the Army with an Honorable Discharge . Post - military career and death . After leaving the Army , Santos Cardona worked in Florida for a time as private security for a musician , then also as a motorcycle salesman . With the intention of returning to work as a dog handler , Cardona joined the Florida firm American K - 9 Detection Services , and returned to Afghanistan in November 2008 as a government contractor . Cardona and his Working Dog , a German Shepherd named " Zomie " , were Killed In Action ( KIA ) February 28 , 2009 in Uruzgan Province , Islamic Republic of Afghanistan , when the vehicle he was riding in struck a buried Improvised Explosive Device . Personal life . Cardona became involved with Heather Ashby , a fellow Military Police soldier , while stationed in Germany in the late 1990s . They had a daughter Keelyn in 1999 , and remained together until his death in 2009 . Cardona adopted his working dog " Duco " at the end of the animal ' s military service . The tan Belgian Malinois remains with his family .