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Man pleads no contest to torturing, suffocating puppy named ‘Lucky’

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A Redwood City man has pleaded no contest to torturing and suffocating his family’s puppy in front of his 4-year-old daughter after it defecated on the apartment floor, officials said Monday.

Alan Benjamin Velete, 32, entered his no-contest plea Friday after admitting to one count of felony animal cruelty and a misdemeanor count of child endangerment, according to the San Mateo County district attorney’s office.

He faces up to three years in prison for the offenses, prosecutors said.

Velete began punching and kicking the 4-month-old puppy named “Lucky” in December after it defecated on the apartment floor, prosecutors said.

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Velete allegedly was enraged and kept the puppy in a crate in the bathroom.

He sprayed household cleaner in the puppy’s eyes and put it in duffel bag, which he hung in the shower, prosecutors said.

The puppy apparently whimpered for hours while it was inside the duffel bag.

Prosecutors said Velete taped the puppy’s mouth shut and fed it his psychiatric drugs.

He finally suffocated the puppy, and concealed its body in a duffel bag.

The abuse, which occurred between Dec. 9, 2013, and Jan. 9, allegedly occurred in front of his daughter.

His girlfriend and her mother had been “too terrified” to call police about the abuse. But her mother finally called authorities after the puppy died, officials said.

Velete, who is on probation for a 2011 assault with a deadly weapon conviction, is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 28.

For breaking news in Los Angeles and throughout California, follow @VeronicaRochaLA. She can be reached at veronica.rocha@latimes.com.

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