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WEST JORDAN — A West Jordan man was arrested Wednesday and accused of strangling his dog and burying it in his backyard.
Michael George Orfanos, 30, was charged Thursday in 3rd District Court with torture of a companion animal, a third-degree felony; and drug possession, a class A misdemeanor.
West Jordan police received a tip that Orfanos had told someone "he had killed his own dog and buried it in the backyard of the residence," according to a police booking affidavit. Officers responded to the residence near 1300 West and 7050 South and questioned Orfanos.
He allegedly told the officers no dogs were living in the home. When asked why there was dog feces in the backyard, Orfanos said three days earlier "he became upset at a separate situation and started to choke his dog. While choking the dog, the dog began to struggle to breathe and died," the affidavit states.
Orfanos claimed even though he had abused his dog, "Lucious," in the past, he had not been upset with the dog at the time he killed the animal, according to the arrest report. It is unknown what type of dog Lucious was.
Officers searching Orfanos before taking him to jail reported finding heroin in his back pocket.
