A New Jersey man is facing charges after allegedly shooting a dog he was looking after.
The Berkeley Township Police Department said it responded to a call from a woman who said her dog, a one-year-old French Bulldog named Ruby, had died after it was dropped off at a family member’s house on Oct. 3.
The dog’s owners said they had dropped the dog off to be watched by Jeffrey Lentz, 56.
“Ruby’s owners later received a call that Ruby had been injured and succumbed to her injuries,” the department said in a news release.
A veterinary exam and X-rays revealed the dog had been shot in the jaw.
Police started an investigation while the dog was sent to the New Jersey Department of Agriculture’s Animal Health Diagnostics Lab in Trenton for a necropsy.
Investigators determined Lentz “unlawfully discharged a firearm at the dog resulting in the dog’s death.”
He was charged with animal cruelty, possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose, and possession of large capacity magazine. He was arrested Nov. 3 and “remanded to the Ocean County Jail pending court proceedings,” officials said. Lentz was released Nov. 10 after a superior court hearing, and is set to appear in court again in December.
If convicted of the firearm possession charge, Lentz faces a potential 10-year prison sentence.
The identity of the dog owners and their relationship to Lentz was not released.
