Micheal Grindrod

Micheal Grindrod, 39, initially faced five felony counts of willfully or maliciously torturing, maiming or killing animals, but he pleaded guilty in December to a felony charge of cruelty to animals, court records show.

During a sentencing hearing Tuesday, Grindrod’s attorney asked the judge to avoid sending him to prison, and argued for Grindrod to spend time in the Clark County Detention Center before receiving in-patient mental health treatment. But District Judge Susan Johnson sided with prosecutors and sentenced Grindrod to between 12 to 30 months in prison.

“This is very sad to me,” Johnson said about the case.

Grindrod will have credit for 71 days he has spent in custody, and the judge recommended he go through a drug treatment program while in prison.

He was arrested on Nov. 5 after police were called to an apartment complex near Charleston and Jones boulevards to help animal control officers who were picking up five puppies from a dumpster. According to a police report, the puppies were 1- to 2-week-old German shepherd mixes who were covered in a bleach-like substance.

Grindrod told police that a plan to give the puppies away fell through, so he put the puppies inside a garbage bag and sprayed them with a mixture of bleach and cleaning chemicals to “expedite the process by shaking them with chemicals,” according to the report.