A Mercedes man is facing charges of animal cruelty after law enforcement discovered two dogs — one dead and one malnourished — on his property in January.
The Hidalgo County Sheriff’s office arrested Hector Lopez, 39, on Wednesday on two charges of animal cruelty for failing to provide necessary food, water, or care for a female husky and a male German Shepard, according to the probable cause affidavit against him.
Lopez’s arrest came after a sheriff’s deputy responded to a report of animal cruelty a concerned citizen submitted.
On Jan. 31, the deputy spoke with the concerned citizen who said Lopez was the owner of a property located at 7603 N. Farm-to-Market Road 1015 in Weslaco. However, Lopez had moved to an unknown location and was last seen at the property two days prior. His daughter had been at the property the day before, Jan. 30, but had not checked on the dogs.
At Lopez’s property, the deputy found the dead body of the black dog tied to a tree and a brown, skinny, malnourished dog under a trampoline. The deputy tried to contact Lopez, but was unable to get ahold of him.
The next day, investigator Israel Arguello obtained an affidavit from a witness, Alfonso Teran, who said that about 4 p.m. on Jan. 29, he noticed that Lopez’s black husky was dead and the brown German Shepard was very sick.
Lopez’s daughter was at the house that day but did not check up on the dogs, and a week prior, Teran noticed the husky was tied up and kept barking, but there was no one home.
He added that Lopez had the dogs for about a year but said he didn’t think Lopez had been staying at his house recently.
The investigator was able to contact Lopez who reportedly granted him access onto the property.
The investigator saw that the husky and the German Shepherd did not have access to food or water and the investigator then obtained an affidavit from Lopez “in which he voluntarily admitted to neglecting his dogs,” according to the probable cause affidavit.
After being arrested on Wednesday, Lopez was released that same day on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond for each count.
