On February 19th, 2025, a construction worker called police after hearing dogs crying out near a home. When he looked toward the sound, he began recording what he saw. >> We [clears throat] received the video that you took this morning in reference to animal cruelty. Can you just give me a statement of what you guys were doing, and what you heard, and what you saw? >> Yeah, yes ma'am. So, we were working on the the roof. We were just laying wire cuz we were doing a battery system there, and I started hearing the dog tiny yelping and crying. And so, I just had to find out which yard it was at. And whenever I looked across the street in the yard, I just saw the man grabbing rocks and just hitting the dog repeatedly over and over and over again. This probably happened for about 5-10 minutes, and then he went back inside, and he came out, and he kept doing the same thing. And he had two dogs there. >> Did you catch the videos like late in the game, or I mean >> I caught the video probably like like right in the middle whenever it was happening both times. >> Okay. >> And then and then before that, we had I had seen him do it. I had seen him come out, and he just he just like he staked the dog, and then the dog went in the corner, and he just grabbed these two big rocks, and he just kept hitting the dog repeatedly after, and that's why the dog was yelping and crying. Both of them. Yes, ma'am. Yeah, it was both of them. They're big big rocks. >> After reviewing the footage, officers obtained an arrest warrant and went to the man's home to take him into custody. >> Can I step in the house real quick? >> What's up? >> Can I step in the house real quick? >> Why? >> Hey, so real quick, just to let you know, there's a video of an incident about you happening with a dog. So, real quick, you want to turn around for me, please? Put your hands behind your back. Right now, you're just being detained, okay? Are you the only one who lives in this house? >> Yeah, and someone else. >> Okay. What's your name? >> Uh Luis. >> Last name? >> Cobos. >> Cobos? >> Yes, sir. >> All right, let's go ahead and walk this way for me. Watch your step. Do you have any weapons, mace, pepper spray on you by any chance? >> No. >> No. All right, real quick, before you enter my vehicle, I'm going to pat you down real quick, okay? And do you live here? >> Yeah. >> Yeah, and is it just you by yourself? >> My girlfriend also lives here. >> Okay. Is she not home right now? >> No. >> No. I'm supposed to close work today. Okay. We'll get that sorted out right now. Um the detective is going to come out and talk to you in a bit. >> Thank you for calling to upgrade your Freedom to Upgrade the System. Nelly, how can I help you? >> Hey, Nelly. >> Oh. >> Hey, it's Louie. Um hey, so I had an incident um and I'm getting uh detained. So, I don't think I'm going to be making it back to work right now. Can you um huh? >> For real? >> No, yeah, yeah, for real, like I'm not joking. And then if you could just uh ask Cassie if she can close, please. >> Uh okay, hold on. Let me >> Cuz I'm not going to yeah, I'm not going to make it back to work today. >> Hey, what's up? >> Hey, there's something happened and I'm not going to be able to go back to work, so I'm going to need you to close for me. I had an emergency. >> Okay. Hey, it's okay. No, you're fine. >> Or or Cassie, cuz I think she was the mid No, no, just I need someone to close for me. >> Okay, that's fine. >> Okay. All righty. Thank you. Bye. During the warrant search, officers found two basset hounds in the backyard without access to food or water. One curled up and motionless. The other had what appeared to be blood on its nose, an injured foot, and marks on its back. They also found two frightened French bulldogs inside the home. Investigators collected five rocks and a green shirt documented as having dried blood, and animal control took all four dogs for veterinary examination. At the police station, detectives began interviewing the man. >> The The images on the video The video that was taken, it was very clear that you were upset with the basset hounds this morning. Can I ask you like what happened with the dogs that you were so angry with them? >> Just kind of like they're a bit more aggressive. >> Okay. >> Um especially when it comes to the food. >> Okay. Um like they're they're food aggressive. >> Yeah, yeah. I mean, it was a an instance where they kind of snapped at me and bit me in >> Yeah. >> I'll see. >> Did one bite you or did both bite you? >> They both did. >> They did. Where Where did they bite you? >> Um so I had one here, and then I think the other one was more like a quick little snap here on the top of my my hand. >> Okay. >> But yeah, those were the two instances where you >> Can I Can I see? Can I look with the marks? So right there, and then you said you felt something right here. >> Yeah. >> Even though like it doesn't >> Yeah. >> we can't see necessarily necessarily, but you said it happened here. So on the right hand and then >> Right hand and then left hand. >> Okay. Okay. How is it that you see fit to discipline the dogs when things like this happen? >> Um I mean, I I don't know. I mean, there's not a guide to >> I know. >> Right? And I I can't even say what is or isn't fit cuz I don't even know what the evidence is. So I mean, I can't answer that question. >> Well, I mean, so the video shows you clearly striking them with a rock or multiple rocks. >> Okay. >> So is that something that like >> That That's I mean >> Is it typical? Is that >> That's not typical and um that's not something that I'm proud of. >> Okay. >> It's not my character. >> Okay. >> Um it's not something that you know, again, I'm proud of of happening. And it it definitely probably was just like a lapse in judgment. Blacked out this morning, had a rush of anger. Um but yeah, again, it's >> So, it's not something that you typically >> I agree that I agree that that's not fit. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Like you could see why somebody witnessing that would probably be like really concerned about what's going on. >> if I witnessed that myself, I would probably be alarmed as well. And >> Yeah. >> again, just anger and not dealing with the anger properly. >> Okay. >> Um and again, that that was not something that I'm proud of or um >> Did you >> That's that regularly happens. It's not something that you know, I resort to. Um again, it was just like a little more angry rage that hit me. It hadn't happened in a while where they had bitten me when I'm [music] serving them food. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Wait, where do you like to keep their food? >> In a bowl. >> Um but I mean, like I'm so sorry. Do you feed them inside? Do you feed them outside? >> Uh generally, we'll feed them inside. Sometimes we feed them outside. >> Yeah. >> Um we have bowls in and outside. >> Okay. Um same thing, what about their water? Is their water typically both inside and outside, just like their food? >> Okay. >> Yeah, so some days uh my girlfriend will leave the basset hounds outside for a prolonged period of time. >> Yeah. >> Um so, they have their water and their bowls outside as well. >> That's good. That's good. Um so, when this when this morning happened, and I know you said that it was a lapse in judgment, it was a burst of anger that you don't typically encounter, things like that. Um like, the kind of you feel after it happened, [clears throat] did did you >> I was I mean, it's it's like anything else, you know, I'm sure you've done things in your life that maybe in the moment >> you regret >> you you weren't really like in tune with what was going on, and then immediately afterwards, you have that feeling of regret, right? >> Yeah. >> Um so, definitely that that those are feelings that I had. Um you know, instantly regretted it and just something I shouldn't have done. >> Did you do anything um like to try to like rectify the situation? Like did you take the dogs to get seen by any kind of like a vet or any care or anything like >> No, so I mean I I I had to go to work. I was at work since 11:00 a.m. this morning. >> Oh. >> Um so obviously I didn't have uh ample time >> Yeah. >> to do so. >> Yeah. >> Uh but definitely probably something that's going to need to happen. >> Yeah. Do they have a vet that they see? >> Generally we'll take them to White's. >> Okay. Okay. Um do the dogs have any kind of like medical issues? Are they on any medication or anything like that? >> They're not on medication and I mean I'm not sure if they have medical issues. >> Right. Not nothing that's like stood out to you like majorly. >> Not nothing that I'm aware of. >> Okay. Okay. Um does your does your girlfriend have any idea that that this incident happened? Like did you talk to her and tell her like >> haven't told her. Again, I was at work. Um I've been busy. Haven't had a chance to really communicate with anybody. >> Yeah. >> Um so yeah, I haven't told her. >> Okay. >> Mhm. >> Okay. You know, you've had problems with them in the past that maybe >> In the past I have. >> getting some help with. >> Yeah, so I mean since since uh since I was a kid uh I've been a bit um acelerado. I don't know if you speak Spanish. >> I don't. >> Um I don't know if you have something like that. >> Accelerated like a hyperactive [clears throat] child. >> So yeah, as a kid, you know, I was on Ritalin and didn't have my dad in my life. >> Yeah. >> He was in prison. He used to beat up my mom. Um so as a kid I just always had this built-up anger inside of me. >> Did he beat you? >> And uh periodically uh there was a time where I had to intervene and step in for my mom and me and my dad got into a fight. But regardless um you know, that that was stuff that was just built up inside of me. Um I thought I I thought, you know, it was it was harnessed and you know, this this this morning just had a rush of anger and Um should should have handled it better, should have controlled it. Obviously, they're dogs and you know, I can't control whether they bite or snap at me and I should have known better, but uh yeah, that's >> Okay. >> a little background there. >> Okay. [clears throat] Well, first, I'm I'm so sorry that you had to witness that, Cory. That's that's a rough thing for anyone >> Yeah. >> Do you know what I mean? I had seen in the past that you had possibly had some run-ins with the same kind of situation between you and a household member up in Silver. >> Yeah, so in in Silver City, um there was an instance where my ex-girlfriend did call the police. >> Yeah. >> Yeah, the cops showed up and literally did not ask me anything. They only interviewed her. >> They arrested you? >> Shh. They literally just took me to jail, booked me. Um hired a lawyer. She had ultimately told them that nothing had happened that night cuz nothing had happened. Um Yeah, and I mean, Silver City's pretty known for uh having bad practices when it comes to things like that. >> Yeah. >> And not even giving me an opportunity to >> Domestic violence is something that goes along with it. When you had mentioned that it was something that you had seen with your dad, that is also something [clears throat] like children who witness that kind of behavior, they statistically, they are so much more likely to >> Yeah. >> fall in that because >> Yeah, I mean, I I I >> to that. They're not exposed to that. They're not exposed to that. They're not exposed to that. >> um I mean, I I don't have any domestic violence charges on my record. >> Yeah. >> Um >> Even if >> Seeing that happen to my mom, I mean, you know, I wouldn't want to you know, continue that cycle. >> So, what's going to happen from here is we are taking custody of all the dogs. Okay? What we're going to do is we're at least going to take the two basset hounds. We're taking them to a vet that is on stand right now. The vet's going to go ahead and inspect them, just make sure that they're physically okay, things like that, okay? Um I'm going to be real honest with you right now. So, tonight you're going to be charged with two counts of It's basically animal abuse. It's called extreme cruelty to animals. Okay, those are both felonies. >> Um I mean I don't know I don't know if you can answer this, but I mean considering that it's it's a felony, are there any programs that I can kind of go through or anything like that to kind of assist with with the charges? I know like for example in other states they offer different types of programs depending on the offense. >> Like an anger management? >> Something like that. You know, a marriage class or anything of that nature. >> Yes, potentially. >> Yeah, and would that ultimately be up to the DA or >> Correct. >> Yeah. >> Thank you for your honesty. I really appreciate it. I'm going to document that and I'm going to let the DA know that you weren't you weren't an [ __ ] you weren't confrontational, you were not deceptive, like that is something that I'm going to provide to them, mention to them, okay? >> Appreciate that. >> Okay. All right, then. >> The man was charged with two counts of extreme cruelty to animals. He pleaded guilty to one count and the other was dismissed under a plea agreement. On March 6th, 2026, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine. All four dogs were rescued and received veterinary care.