Orlando handed a swan killer back to the public after less than a year behind bars.
Now the same man is back in handcuffs.
And the Florida man who killed an iconic swan just landed himself back in jail after he lost his mind at an Arby’s.
Adonis Leyva Was "Hungry" – So He Hunted a Lake Eola Swan
The swans at Lake Eola are not background scenery.
They have been a symbol of downtown Orlando since 1922.
The city built swan-shaped paddle boats in their honor.
Murals of them line the city's intersections.
Last August, Adonis Leyva walked up to one of those swans – a juvenile that had just been released into the park a week earlier – and killed it.
When witnesses confronted him, he was still carrying the dead bird.
He told them it was for "my food."
When police put him in handcuffs, he offered his explanation: "I was hungry, so I hunted."
A mental competency evaluation determined Leyva was fit to face his charges.
He pleaded no contest to animal cruelty.
He served 344 days.
Then Orange County released him.
Less Than a Month Later, East Colonial Drive Had a Problem
On Monday, Leyva surfaced on East Colonial Drive – one of Orlando's busiest corridors – carrying a metal pipe.
He put it through the front window of an Arby's, sending a female employee running for cover.
He then walked next door and bashed a Dunkin' Donuts sign.
He continued down the road throwing the pipe at moving vehicles before police tracked him to a nearby Wawa and arrested him.
Tuesday brought a second felony charge when PNC Bank employees found a damaged ATM – surveillance footage placing Leyva at the scene the day before.
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He is now facing two counts of criminal mischief, both third-degree felonies, held on a $6,000 bond.
Under Florida's Prison Releasee Reoffender statute, a felon who commits another felony within three years of release faces mandatory minimum sentencing – five years for a third-degree felony, with no parole and no early release.
The Orange County court system will now decide whether to invoke it.
"I don't think anybody that does cruelty or has harming in their hearts should be free," Elizabeth Guerrero told News 6. "Nobody would feel safe."
She's right, and she shouldn't have needed to say it out loud.
Monique Worrell Owns This One
Orange County State Attorney Monique Worrell knew Leyva's backstory.
Her office accepted his no-contest plea to animal cruelty, structured a sentence that had him back on the street in 344 days, and moved on.
This is the same Monique Worrell that Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier publicly called out this summer for handing a murder suspect what he called a "sweetheart deal."
The same Worrell whose office settled a deadly hit-and-run that killed a 15-year-old girl with a three-year sentence – a deal that drew a public rebuke from Tallahassee.
The same Worrell whose assistant prosecutor went "under review" after checking the wrong box on plea paperwork that let an attempted sexual battery suspect walk without a formal conviction.
There is a pattern here and its name is Monique Worrell.
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Leyva admitted to killing that swan in front of witnesses while still carrying the body.
That is not a complicated case.
Worrell's office turned it into a plea, capped his exposure, and handed him back to the public he had already shown he was willing to terrorize.
Fourteen days later, he was on East Colonial Drive with a pipe.
The woman behind the Arby's counter paid the price for that decision.
Worrell didn't.
Sources:
- Patrick Reilly, "Florida man arrested for smashing up Arby's weeks after leaving prison for 'hunting' swan for 'food'," New York Post, September 2, 2026.
- "Man arrested after young swan killed at Lake Eola in Orlando," ClickOrlando/News 6, August 30, 2025.
- "Judge rejects plea deal in Orange County murder case drawing praise from Florida attorney general," ClickOrlando, July 31, 2026.
- "Orlando families fume over 3-year deal in deadly I-Drive hit-and-run," Hoodline, July 18, 2026.
- "Orange prosecutor in College Park attack case under review," MyNews 13, December 11, 2025.
