Ex-LA fire official to be sentenced in dog beating

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) - A retired Los Angeles County assistant fire chief faces up to four years in prison for using a rock to severely beat a puppy that was later euthanized.

Fifty-five-year-old Glynn Johnson is scheduled to be sentenced Friday in a Riverside County courtroom. The Woodcrest resident was convicted in January of felony animal cruelty using a deadly weapon.

Prosecutors say Johnson was feuding with his next-door neighbors in 2008 when he used a 12-pound rock to bash their 6-month-old German shepherd-mix.

The dog, Karley, had to be put to sleep.

Johnson claimed the dog had gotten loose and he was walking it home when it clamped onto his hand, broke a bone and nearly tore off a thumb tip.

But a witness said Johnson's attack on the puppy was unprovoked.