A Riverside man has pleaded guilty to a federal charge after severely injuring his dog and posting videos of the suffering animal on social media, officials announced Thursday.
Angel Ramos-Corrales, 19, pleaded guilty to one count of animal crushing in connection with the Feb. 13 incident, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
According to his plea agreement, Ramos-Corrales assaulted the puppy, who he named Canelo, by inflicting injuries to the dog’s head and torso, and causing skull and rib fractures.
“The dog’s injuries caused it to continuously fall headfirst, and Ramos-Corrales recorded a video of the injured puppy and posted it on his Instagram account,” officials said in a news release.
Later, Ramos-Corrales slit the dogs throat by more than an inch, causing the dog to “bleed significantly and lapse into unconsciousness.” He then recorded a video of the puppy as it was lying on the bathroom floor and posted it on Snapchat. In the video, he says “I’m cold-hearted” and “callously” kicks the dog, which was still alive at the time, officials said.
Police responded to Ramos-Corrales’ home that same day and found him with “fresh blood stains” on his clothes and fresh cut wounds on his hand. Officers also found the severely injured dog in the home, lying on a bed, along with blood spatters in both the bedroom and bathroom, officials had previously indicated.
The defendant’s roommate told officers that he had locked himself in his bedroom after seeing blood and the dog wrapped in a rug, while Ramos-Corrales was yelling in his own room.
Riverside County Department of Animal Services also responded to the home, and while Canelo was still alive, he had to be euthanized due to the severity of his injuries, officials said.
During questioning in March, the defendant told FBI agents that he bought Canelo as a small puppy from a Craigslist posting several months earlier. He claimed he didn’t recall the details of what he had done to the dog.
Ramos-Corrales was arrested by the FBI and the Riverside Police Department April 26 and appeared in court later the same day. He was released on a $15,000 bond before eventually entering the guilty plea Thursday.
Ramos-Corrales is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 16 and faces seven years in federal prison.