Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies on patrol this past weekend caught up to a Bakersfield man who was charged with animal cruelty regarding an alleged incident in Valencia almost five years ago.
Sunday’s arrest of the 27-year-old stemmed from a May 7, 2018, call for service to the SCV Sheriff’s Station regarding a report of possible animal abuse, according to an email from Natalie Arriaga, spokeswoman for the SCV Sheriff’s Station.
Station deputies on patrol responded to a report of a pit bull in distress in a parked car in the 28000 block of Huntington Lane, Arriaga wrote.
When deputies arrived at the location, they saw a pit bull inside a Dodge Durango that had all of its windows rolled up and no water in sight, she added.
“Deputies opened the vehicle’s unlocked door to rescue the dog,” she added. “Shortly thereafter, the suspect returned to the vehicle. He was cited and released in the field for leaving an animal unattended in a vehicle.”
The man was arrested on suspicion of a misdemeanor charge of 597.7(a), part of a 2017 California law that makes it illegal to “confine an animal in any unattended motor vehicle under conditions that endanger the health or well-being of an animal due to heat, cold, lack of adequate ventilation, or lack of food or water, or other circumstances that could reasonably be expected to cause suffering, disability, or death to the animal.”
He was also charged with a misdemeanor for resisting arrest, according to Los Angeles County Superior Court records available online.
The records indicate the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office filed charges Aug. 7, 2018, but the suspect did not enter a plea at his preliminary arraignment, and a bench warrant was issued in June 2020.
The suspect’s L.A. County court records indicate a 2016 conviction that resulted from a no-contest plea to a disturbing the peace charge, in exchange for three weapons charges not being prosecuted. The suspect received four years’ probation in that case.
The Sheriff’s Department arrest records available online indicate that deputies took the suspect into custody at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, and he was cited out and released the following day with a bail amount listed of $85,000.
He’s due back in court July 5.
