Ogden man charged with fatally smothering dog with rubber bands

Ogden man charged with fatally smothering dog with rubber bands

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OGDEN — An Ogden man was charged Friday with killing his dog by suffocating it with rubber bands around its muzzle.

Romeo Lucero, 23, was charged with torture of a companion animal, a third-degree felony, in 2nd District Court. A warrant was issued for his arrest.

Police say Lucero used six rubber bands on the dog, wrapping them around its muzzle 15 times at a home near 400 N. Wall Avenue. Lucero said "he was angry that it had chewed on his belongings," according to charging documents.

Lucero wrapped the bands so tightly that the dog's tongue was also injured, police said. Witnesses took video of the dog showing it was kept on an "extremely short cord," making it impossible for the dog to lay down or move around with ease, the charges state.

Lucero left the dog after he had tethered it and used the rubber bands, according to the charges, and the animal was trapped there for at least 12 hours.

"Lucero knowingly treated the animal in an especially heinous, atrocious, cruel and exceptionally depraved manner, constituting torture and resulting in the animal's death," investigators wrote in the charging documents.

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Ben Lockhart

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