Judge sends man to prison in dog’s hanging death

A man accused of killing his dog by repeatedly hanging it from a fence in the back of an east Las Vegas tavern was ordered to serve at least one year in state prison, according to Clark County District Court logs.

District Judge Tierra Jones on Monday sentenced 27-year-old Carlos Fonseca Jr. to 12-to-48 months in prison for the killing of “Lady,” a Japanese Tosa breed.

A bar manager spotted the dead dog Oct. 4 and summoned the Metropolitan Police Department to the 3000 block of South Nellis Boulevard.

Footage from the business, which Metro publicized a week later, showed the act, police said.

A man was seen on video leading a dog toward the back of the business, and tossing a leash over the fence, yanking on it four separate times, police said, adding that the animal was seen “thrashing” in the air.

Police recovered additional video they used to track Fonseca’s address, according to his arrest report.

Investigators spoke to neighbors and his girlfriend, who told them she and Fonseca shared ownership of the dog, and that he had told her he returned Lady to her original owner, police said.

A day after the images released by Metro began circulating online, Fonseca abruptly quit his job a few minutes into a shift, police said.

He was arrested on Oct. 19, and booked into the Clark County Detention Center on four counts of willfully torturing or killing a dog, logs show.

Less than a month later, Fonseca agreed to an Alford plea on one count of felony animal cruelty, which means he only admitted that prosecutors had enough evidence to prove his guilt, court records show.

His listed public defender could not immediately be reached for comment.

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @rickytwrites.