Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
2 plead not guilty to beating, stabbing dog
FAYETTEVILLE — A Lincoln couple who police say beat their neighbor’s dog with a machete and stabbed it with a pitchfork pleaded not guilty to animal cruelty charges Friday in Washington County Circuit Court.
Robert Maltese, 54, and Alane Maltese, 60, both of 19657 Tara Road in Lincoln, were arrested Feb. 16 in connection with the incident.
Robert Maltese is charged with felony aggravated animal cruelty, felony tampering with physical evidence and hindering apprehension or prosecution of a person who committed a felony, a misdemeanor.
Alane Maltese is charged with aggravated animal cruelty and terroristic threatening, both felonies.
The two are free on $5,000 bond each while awaiting trial.
They both have Oct. 15 court dates before Circuit Judge Mark Lindsay.
Sheriff’s deputies were sent to the Tara Road area on a call of a disturbance in progress Feb. 16, 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 dog standing in the roadway. 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 the deputies 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 pitchfork 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 underneath 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 he was going to euthanize the dog due to the severity of its injuries, which included a fractured skull, fractured ribs, a fractured front leg and 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.
Aggravated animal cruelty is a Class D felony punishable by up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine, according to Prosecuting Attorney Matt Durrett.
Anyone convicted can be ordered to serve up to 400 hours of community service and to submit to a mental evaluation and possibly be ordered to counseling or treatment.