A New Mexico man is accused of terrorizing his neighbors earlier this month in a crime spree that included feeding a woman’s small dog to another neighbor’s pit bulls.
Marvin Clyde Riley, 30, of Albuquerque, is charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, two counts of aggravated burglary and extreme cruelty to animals, according to Bernalillo County Jail records.
The Albuquerque Journal reported that sheriff's deputies were called Feb. 7 to Riley's neighborhood, where a neighbor told them that Riley had broken into his home and hit him in the head with a blunt object. KRQE in Albuquerque, which spoke to residents who witnessed the alleged crimes, reported that the man was beaten in the face with a pair of pliers.
Riley is accused of leaving the man’s house and walking across the street, where another neighbor’s Shih Tzu, named Charlie Brown, was playing in her yard. He broke into the yard and grabbed the dog, according to police.
He then tossed the dog over a fence and into a third neighbor's yard, where that homeowner's pit bulls attacked and killed the smaller animal, KRQE reported.
The owners of the pit bulls tried to pull them off of the Shih Tzu, but it was too late. Charlie Brown’s owner, Bernadette Salazar, told the news station that the incident was over by the time she arrived at her neighbor’s home.
“My dog was laying right there in the plastic bag already,” Salazar said.
Investigators told KRQE that Riley laughed about feeding the dog to the pit bulls, telling deputies that "it's just something he does."
The allegations appalled people on social media.
Riley is being held in lieu of $50,000 bond, jail records show.
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