Man Pleads Not Guilty in Assault on Dog : Courts: He is charged with 2 felony counts of animal cruelty after a Fountain Valley neighbor turned in a videotape of him beating the collie.

A Fountain Valley man pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that he taped his collie’s mouth shut and then beat the dog with a garden tool.

Richard Eugene Griffith Jr., 36, was arrested on May 6 after a neighbor videotaped the assault of the family’s 1-year-old dog, and gave the tape to police, authorities said.

The collie, named Jazzy, was taken into protective custody after hundreds of outraged people called police. The dog is still at the Orange County Animal Control shelter in Orange.

After a brief hearing Friday morning before Municipal Judge Martin G. Engquist in Westminster, Griffith and his attorney, Mark N. Phillips, rushed from court and declined to comment.

Griffith, charged with two felony counts of cruelty to an animal, faces a maximum sentence of three years in state prison and up to a $20,000 fine for each count, said James W. Hicks, deputy district attorney.

A pretrial conference is scheduled for July 22.

Police said the tape shows Griffith kicking the dog, throwing rocks at her and beating her with a gardening tool in the back yard of his home in the 10900 block of La Carta Avenue.

Fountain Valley Police Sgt. Dann Bean said Friday that in the videotape, which has not been released, it appears that Griffith hit the dog with the wooden handle of a tool.

“It might have been a spade or weeder,” Bean said.

He said that Griffith is being charged for two incidents, on April 15 and 16. The tape was taken on April 16.

Hicks said that the videotape shows beatings taking place at various times of the day. It was “not just one episode,” he said.

“The videotape speaks for itself,” he said.

Griffith was arrested at a Huntington Beach insurance company, where he works.

Bean said that the dog is in “great shape” and that Hicks and Griffith’s attorney are working on finding a home for Jazzy. The dog might be placed with a breeder, who expressed early interest in temporarily caring for the dog and has the proper facility, Bean said. More than 300 people have offered to adopt the dog.

The decision about Jazzy’s future rests with the court or the Animal Assistance League of Orange County Inc., which is working with Animal Control officials on a recommendation, Bean said.

Hicks said his office is taking the case seriously and is surprised by the hundreds of letters it has received from angry people.

Bean also said the Police Department has received about a dozen letters and the same amount of phone calls, some from people across the country.