Lincoln couple accused of animal cruelty in attack on neighbor’s dog

LINCOLN — A Lincoln couple was arrested Friday after an incident in which police say they beat their neighbor’s dog with a machete and stabbed it with a pitchfork.

Robert Maltese, 54, and Alane Maltese, 60, both of 19657 Tara Road in Lincoln, were arrested in connection with the incident.

Robert Maltese was arrested on charges of aggravated animal cruelty, tampering with physical evidence, hindering apprehension or prosecution and theft of property. Alane Maltese was arrested and charged with aggravated animal cruelty, terroristic threatening and theft of property. The two were released Saturday from the Washington County jail after a $5,000 bond was set for each of them.

Deputies were sent to the Tara Road area on a call of a disturbance in progress Friday, according to a preliminary report from the Washington County sheriff’s office.

Regina Thompson told the deputies she heard “yelling” coming from the road and when she went outside she saw her 16-year-old, blind Pomeranian standing in the road. Thompson said she saw her neighbor, Alane Maltese, run from her yard toward the dog with what appeared to be a metal bar in her hand.

Thompson told deputies that Maltese began cursing her and threatening to kill her and her dog. She said Maltese then began beating the dog with the metal object before taking the dog into the Maltese home.

A neighbor, David Starbuck, told deputies he witnessed the incident and that he saw Robert Maltese walk out of the house with the dog and stuff it into a black trash can. Starbuck told the deputies he saw Maltese stab the dog with a pitch

fork while it was in the trash can and then put the dog into a white 5-gallon bucket that he took back inside the house.

When the deputies spoke with Maltese, he said the dog was not inside his house and denied the deputies’ request to search the house. A search warrant was obtained, and when the house was searched, the dog was found under a cabinet in a white 5-gallon bucket with an airtight lid.

The dog was still alive when it was found, according to the report. Deputies said Thompson took the dog to a veterinarian who told the sheriff’s office that he was going to euthanize the dog because of the severity of its injuries, which included a fractured skull, fractured ribs, a fractured front leg and a laceration to the bone of the leg.

The deputies also reported finding the pitchfork that was used to stab the dog and a machete that was used to beat the dog.