Yakima County prosecutors have dropped — for now — animal cruelty charges against a Toppenish-area man accused of strangling his estranged wife’s dog.
Anthony Leroy Curtis’ charges of first-degree animal cruelty and harassment have been dismissed without prejudice, which allows prosecutors to refile the case should circumstances change.
In court documents filed in Yakima County Superior Court earlier this month, Deputy Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney Bret Roberts said that the victim in the case had not responded to requests to meet with prosecutors for an interview, which Roberts said “impairs the state’s ability to prove its case.”
A friend of Curtis’ wife told sheriff’s deputies that Curtis was texting his wife Aug. 13, 2023, and threatening to hurt their dog if she did not come back to him, according to a probable cause affidavit. One of the texts included a photo of the dog dangling from a cord.
His wife said that Curtis, 57, told her he would torture the dog and kill it if she didn’t comply, the affidavit said.
“I thought you really loved your dog more than that,” one of the texts read, according to the affidavit.
Deputies who went to Curtis’ Germantown Road home found a black electrical cord that had been tied into a loop, but the dog appeared uninjured, the affidavit said.
Court records show Curtis has prior assault and reckless endangerment convictions in Yakima County District Court.
Curtis had been out on pretrial release, and court records show he had missed two check-ins with court staff.