A choose sentenced a Killeen man to jail time this week for lighting a canine on hearth and utilizing an air rifle to shoot it within the head.
The canine survived the abuse and was discarded in a dumpster the place it was rescued by Killeen police within the 2021 incident.
During a listening to on Tuesday within the 426th Judicial District Court, Keishaw Rodriguez Aquino, 25, pleaded responsible to a third-degree felony cost of cruelty to a non-livestock animal. Judge Steve Duskie then discovered Aquino responsible and sentenced him to 5 years in jail with credit score for time served, based on Bell County courtroom data.
Aquino was being held with out bond on Tuesday. He is the second man to be sentenced for abusing the canine.
Alex Soto Cruz, 25, who was indicted together with Aquino on March 30, 2022, pleaded responsible on Sept. 23, 2022. In November of final yr, Cruz was discovered responsible and sentenced by Duskie to 3 years in jail. Cruz’s protection legal professional on Feb. 27, motioned for shock probation.
During a listening to on April 6, throughout which Cruz testified, Duskie suspended the rest of his sentence and imposed a time period of eight years of probation. Shock probation can solely be accepted by a choose if a person has not had a previous felony conviction.
The case dates again to Nov. 16, 2021, when Killeen police had been dispatched to a reduction retailer within the 200 block of East Hallmark Avenue for an unknown name.
“When (officers) arrived, they learned a man had noticed noises and a foul smell coming from a black suitcase on top of a dumpster,” based on an arrest affidavit. “When he opened the bag, he found a white pit bull-mix puppy, covered in feces and urine, and showing obvious signs of being burned.”
The dumpster was scheduled to be picked up by waste administration providers on Tuesdays, “and the day the puppy was found was a Tuesday, causing detectives to believe that whoever had put the bag on the dumpster with the puppy inside was counting on the dumpster being emptied,” based on the affidavit.
A veterinarian examined the canine, which was emaciated and malnourished; had wounds in numerous phases of therapeutic; and indicators of blunt power trauma on the its head, police mentioned.
“The animal had been lit on fire and the burns were extensive on its back, hips, thighs and genital area,” based on the affidavit.
Police mentioned that a number of the accidents had been per being shot with an air rifle.
On the bag was an airline tag with the final title of a person, whom police tracked down. The man mentioned that he had owned the suitcase; however when he moved out, he had left it at an condo he had shared with Aquino and Cruz within the 400 block of Gilmer Street.
The man instructed police that Aquino and Cruz “had a small white dog at the apartment … (and) he had heard what he believed to be Aquino and Soto (Cruz) throwing or striking the animal because he heard loud noises on the walls followed by the dog’s cries and the voices of Aquino and Soto (Cruz).”
Police mentioned that Cruz admitted to “beating” the canine on a number of events, though he categorized it as correcting the canine for conduct. Cruz additionally instructed police that he had precipitated burns on the canine’s physique when Cruz was taking part in with hearth utilizing an aerosol can.
Cruz allegedly instructed police that he and Aquino had put the canine within the suitcase, which they then threw into the dumpster, as a result of they believed it will not get well from its burns.
Aquino admitted that he likes to play with hearth, however neither man admitted to taking pictures the canine within the head with the air rifle that was discovered on the condo, based on the affidavit.
Child abuse case
In an unrelated case that additionally was determined earlier this week, Quiana Kay Gray, 44, of Killeen was sentenced to 2 years of deferred adjudication probation for kicking one other person’s little one throughout an incident final yr. Judge Paul LePak additionally ordered that Gray is to don’t have any unsupervised contact with the sufferer, based on Bell County courtroom data.
Gray, who was indicted on Nov. 9, 2022, pleaded responsible on Aug. 28, to a third-degree felony cost of damage to a toddler with intentional bodily damage. She was sentenced on Monday within the 264th Judicial District Court.
Killeen police on Sept. 24, 2022, responded to a name through which a person was suspected of kicking a 3-year-old boy within the mouth. According to an arrest affidavit, Gray kicked the girl’s little one after which laughed, saying, “I kicked him like a kangaroo.”
When officers arrived on the scene, police mentioned the kid’s lip was swollen and two abrasions might be seen on each side of his decrease lip.