FORT WORTH (WBAP/KLIF News) – A Tarrant County judge sentenced a Fort Worth man to one year in jail for Animal Cruelty.
Justin Ryan Rubio pleaded guilty in April to torturing his dog Tara.
Police arrested Rubio, a bartender, in March of 2016, after the apartment manager at Monticello Crossroads Apartments, where he was living at the time, found Tara dead on March 4th.
Investigators said Rubio admitted to driving to Oklahoma to party with friends weeks earlier but left the dog unattended with no food or water.
Prosecutor Kacey Fickes said Rubio’s actions are incomprehensible.
“There are no words that can accurately describe Tara’s suffering in that apartment. This defendant was supposed to be the person who loved and protected her and instead he left her to die,” she said.
Fickes said what is worse is that Tara’s death could have been prevented.
“The true tragedy is that one phone call at any point could have spared Tara from a slow and agonizing death,” she said.
Animal cruelty is a state jail felony punishable by six months to two years.
It’s mandatory that Rubio serves each day of his sentence before he will be released.
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