By Bay City News Service:



A Redwood City judge Thursday found that a local man must be held to answer for allegedly torturing a puppy to death in front of his 4-year-old daughter.



Alan Velete, 32, was already on probation for felony assault when he moved with his girlfriend and daughter in December to an apartment belonging to his girlfriend's mother, according to the office of San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.



Shortly thereafter, prosecutors say Lucky, their 4-month-old terrier puppy, defecated on the apartment floor, enraging Velete.



Over the next few weeks, prosecutors allege Velete committed multiple acts of torture against the puppy, much of it in front of his daughter.



The acts include punching and kicking the terrier, putting it in a duffel bag and hanging it in the shower, taping its mouth closed, force feeding it Velete's psychiatric drugs, and spraying household cleaner in its eyes, prosecutors said.



Ultimately, the D.A.'s office reports Velete finally killed the dog by suffocating it on Jan. 6. Velete put the body in a duffel bag and threw it in a garbage bin.



His girlfriend's mother made an anonymous report to police after the dog was killed.



Velete was arrested three days later.



In addition to the charges of animal abuse and child endangerment, Velete has been charged with violating a court-ordered restraining order to stay away from his girlfriend's mother, Wagstaffe's office reports.



Velete currently remains in San Mateo County jail, in lieu of $50,000 bail.



He will be arraigned in Redwood City Superior Court at 8:45 a.m. on April 11.





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