Anne Arundel County police say one of two Pasadena men charged with slashing a dog's throat last week might have committed the act to intimidate an old girlfriend.
Authorities accuse Robert Lee Grim, 25, of the 100 block of Arundel Road of purposely hurting the dog and then leaving evidence of the attack - a bloody towel - at the Millersville home where his ex-girlfriend had been staying, said police spokesman Sgt. Shawn Urbas.
The dog, which survived and is expected to make a full recovery, was not owned by Grim's ex-girlfriend, whom court records identify as Sue Cantu. The records state that Cantu, who told police she last spoke with Grim on New Year's Eve, once shared a Brooklyn apartment with him and that since their breakup he had threatened to harm members of her family.
Police say Grim and George Martin Treas, 22, of the 7100 block of Fort Smallwood Road, grabbed the dog, a Labrador retriever-German shepherd mix, from a South Baltimore street on the evening of Jan. 2.
Witnesses told police they saw two men using a belt to drag the dog into a white van parked near an apartment building in the 3400 block of Seventh St. Court records show that Grim and Treas had been staying in an apartment there, and that the dog had been seen sleeping outside their door.
Investigators believe that the men took the dog to a church parking lot in Millersville, where the animal's throat was slashed, Urbas said.
A towel believed to have been soaked with the dog's blood was found Jan. 3 in front of a house in Millersville where Cantu had been staying with relatives. Her mother called 911 that morning to report the blood-soaked towel and to tell police that the tires of a car parked outside her Mattawa Court home had been slashed, Urbas said.
About the same time, a bloodied belt was discovered and reported to police by a church employee. Animal-control officers responding to a report of a wounded animal found the dog behind a nearby home several hours later, Urbas said. The dog suffered a large gash to its neck, he said.
Grim and Treas have been charged with aggravated animal cruelty, a felony.
As of late yesterday, Treas was being held at the county detention center on $15,000 bond. Grim was released on bond Sunday; he also was charged with drug possession after police found him with heroin at the time of arrest, Urbas said.
Both men have criminal records, court records show.
Grim was convicted of second-degree assault in 1999. He was also found guilty of possession of drugs in 2002 and felony theft in 2004.
Treas was found guilty of drug possession in 2002 and 2004 and was convicted of attempting to distribute a controlled dangerous substance in May.
The dog's owner, Sabrina Grimes of the 4100 block of Morrison Court in Baltimore, last week claimed her pet, Casper.