A woman was arrested Sunday on a felony warrant of animal cruelty and child abuse charges after she shot a neighbor’s puppy, and then told her son to shoot the animal numerous times.
Maria Furtado was arrested by Nye County Sheriff’s deputies after receiving a report that had taken the puppy into the desert near Front Sight Road in the south west area of Pahrump and had shot it.
According to police, Furtado had taken the puppy after the puppy had attacked and killed Furtado’s two ducklings several days prior. The investigation revealed that Furtado pulled up to her neighbor’s residence, walked onto their property, took the puppy from its rope and put it into her vehicle.
She then drove to the desert with her 3-year-old and 15-year-old sons in the vehicle.
Deputies discovered that when Furtado reached the desert area she took the puppy out of the vehicle with a pistol in her hand. She then shot the puppy more than once. It was reported that Furtado then made her older son shoot the puppy some additional times.
Furtado was arrested and booked into the Nye County Detention Center on preliminary charges of animal cruelty, two counts of neglect/child abuse, and petit larceny. She was being held on $15,640 bail.