El Paso.- A 20-year-old El Paso man has been arrested and charged with animal cruelty after allegedly hitting his dog on two separate occasions, El Paso police reported.
Police said Anthony James Sepulveda was arrested on Wednesday, September 25, and charged with cruelty to non-livestock animals (killing, poisoning, causing serious injury).
In June, the Police Department's Animal Cruelty Investigations Unit was notified of a case of animal cruelty in the 1600 block of Lee Trevino in east El Paso.
In the initial investigation, a witness told police he saw Sepulveda hit his dog, named Apollo, several times with a metal bar, until the dog howled in pain.
In a separate incident, investigators said they learned Sepulveda had hit his dog with a belt.
Sepulveda was booked into the El Paso County Detention Center on $10,000 bond. Since the incident, the dog has been given to a new home.