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A Henrico County man accused of performing sex acts on Rottweilers was convicted of two counts of animal cruelty Tuesday.

Stephen Matthew Taylor, 31, entered an Alford plea to a felony charge of inflicting pain and causing death of an animal. He entered a guilty plea to an additional misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty.

Under an Alford plea, a defendant doesn’t admit guilt but acknowledges that prosecutors have enough evidence for a conviction.

The defendant, who had eight Rottweilers, admitted to police that he performed oral sex on one of the dogs, according to Nael A. Abouzaki, an assistant commonwealth’s attorney for Henrico.

Abouzaki said a hard drive found at Taylor’s home contained 171 images of bestiality, including 10 images of Taylor performing oral sex on a Rottweiler. William T. Linka, Taylor’s attorney, said his client disputes the fact that he is the person in the images.

Abouzaki said the defendant’s conduct was “appalling.”

After his court appearance, Taylor called the allegations against him lies, saying he is not guilty. Taylor said he entered his pleas because he didn’t feel that he could get a fair trial in Henrico.