Riverside, California - Authorities Monday morning arrested a Riverside man on a federal charge alleging that he slit the throat of his young dog, produced a short video of the dying puppy, and posted the video on his Snapchat account.
Angel Ramos-Corrales, 19, was arrested without incident this morning by the FBI and the Riverside Police Department. Ramos-Corrales is expected to make his initial appearance this afternoon in United States District Court in Riverside.
Ramos-Corrales was named in a federal criminal complaint filed Friday that charges him with animal crushing, a federal crime of purposely subjecting certain types of animals to serious bodily injury not related to hunting or other lawful activity. The animal crushing statute carries a sentence of up to seven years in federal prison.
According to the affidavit in support of the complaint, the Riverside Police Department received a complaint on February 13 soon after Ramos-Corrales allegedly posted a video on Snapchat depicting the small brown dog with a large laceration on its neck. On the video, a person believed to be Ramos-Corrales makes a series of statements, including “I’m cold-hearted,” and then callously kicks the still-alive dog, which he had named Canelo, the complaint alleges.
Riverside Police officers went to Ramos-Corrales’ residence, where they found him with fresh blood stains on his clothes, as well as freshly cut wounds on his hand, according to the affidavit. Inside his house, officers found the severely injured dog lying on a bed and observed blood spatters in both the bedroom and bathroom.
During the investigation, the police officers located a roommate who said he locked himself in his bedroom after observing blood spatter and the dog wrapped in a rug while Ramos-Corrales was in his room yelling, the affidavit states.
Animal control officers responded to the residence on February 13 and removed the barely alive dog, according to the affidavit, which notes a veterinarian had to euthanize the animal after determining Canelo also had fractured bones in his head and chest.
During interviews with FBI agents in early March that are outlined in the affidavit, Ramos-Corrales said he purchased Canelo as a small puppy from a Craigslist posting several months earlier, and he claimed not to recall the details of what he had done to the dog.
This matter is being investigated by the FBI, which received substantial assistance from the Riverside Police Department. The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office received the initial referral from the Riverside Police Department, and, after reviewing the matter and conferring with the United States Attorney’s Office, a decision was made that federal prosecutors would file the case.
Assistant United States Attorney Julius J. Nam of the Riverside Branch Office is prosecuting this case.
A criminal complaint is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
