Las Vegas man faces animal cruelty charges after puppy found hanged

A Las Vegas man has been arrested in the death of a puppy found hanging from a fence on Tuesday.

Las Vegas police said they were called to an apartment complex on the 3600 block of Boulder Highway at 1:34 p.m. regarding the death of a dog. Upon arrival, they found the dead dog and arrested its owner, Tobenna Okobi, 40, of Las Vegas.

An arrest report for Okobi states a Clark County animal control officer told police a man “had hung his dog and the dog was not breathing.”

“The puppy was hanging on a fence on the south east side of the complex by the main office,” police said, adding the animal control officer had attempted to detain Okobi but he walked away.

Officers then tracked Okobi down and took him into custody.

Okobi denied tying his dog up on the fence, but surveillance video told a different story.

“Video footage from the apartment complex shows Tobenna walking to the front of the complex at approximately 3 this morning,” police said. “A few minutes later he is seen walking back towards the rear of the complex without his dog.”

Police said Okobi also had “left his dog unattended in 113 degree weather without food or water” for hours.

Okobi was booked at the Clark County Detention Center on suspicion of malicious torture and killing of an animal and was scheduled for an initial appearance in Las Vegas Justice Court on Wednesday.

Contact Glenn Puit by email at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.