California man convicted of gouging out dog’s eye

VISTA, Calif. (AP) — A man charged with gouging out the eye of his neighbors’ dog and abusing other pets in his Southern California neighborhood has been found guilty of animal cruelty.

The San Diego Union-Tribune says David C. Herbert of Oceanside was convicted Friday of six felony counts of cruelty, along with misdemeanors for repeatedly slashing the tires on his neighbors’ car and burglary for breaking into their home.

Prosecutors say Herbert targeted his next-door neighbors last year, burning the family’s two dogs with a caustic chemical and entering the home to gouge out the eye of a Siberian husky.

The family moved but authorities say the new neighbors had two dogs. One, a 9-year-old golden retriever, vanished and is presumed dead. Herbert claimed in court that he’d taken it to a shelter.