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A South Carolina man has been convicted after burning a woman’s puppy alive in an incident that was live-streamed on Facebook, authorities said.
Desmond Levon Brown, 29, of Orangeburg, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to animal crushing, a charge that includes burning, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of South Carolina said in a news release on Thursday.
He faces a maximum penalty of seven years in federal prison.
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Why It Matters
Brown’s case marks the first know conviction in South Carolina under the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act (PACT Act), according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The PACT Act was signed into law in 2019 and makes some of the most egregious forms of animal cruelty a federal crime.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elle Klein said evidence in the case that showed an interstate connection allowed the case to be prosecuted at the federal level.
What To Know
Klein told U.S. District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis on Wednesday that a tipster told sheriff’s deputies about the puppy’s death by fire in December 2024 and the Facebook Live video, The State reported. When deputies responded to Brown’s girlfriend’s home, Brown and his girlfriend told them they were burning clothes, Klein said.
A deputy later found the livestreamed video and then located the puppy’s body after returning to the home, she said.
The puppy belonged to the woman, WCSC Live 5 News reported, and she had burned Brown's clothes first.
Klein said that a container of Caribbean rum, Pontalba 151, that was bottled in Kentucky was used to start the fire, The State reported. That, and a a bag of Purina puppy chow that had been manufactured outside South Carolina, allowed federal authorities to get involved in the case, she said.
In the news release on Thursday, federal prosecutors said the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office initially investigated the case after receiving reports on December 18, 2024, of a Facebook Live video showing Brown throwing a puppy into a fire that day.
Federal law enforcement obtained the Facebook Live video, which showed Brown “holding the puppy above the fire, dropping it into the fire, and repeatedly kicking the puppy into the fire, burning it alive,” the news release said.
Federal prosecutors said in the news release that Brown was also recorded on jail calls admitting to burning the puppy.
Lewis accepted Brown’s guilty plea and will sentence Brown after receiving a reviewing a sentencing report, the news release said.
“Brown’s gruesome torture of a puppy was heinous,” U.S. Attorney Bryan Stirling for the District of South Carolina said in a statement. “He showed no mercy in his crime, and we look forward to his sentencing. Our office will lead the fight to protect the welfare of animals in South Carolina.”
“I’ve seen some extremely despicable and disgusting things in my career, but this is one of the worst," Orangeburg County Sheriff Leroy Ravenell said at the time the crime occurred, according to Live 5 News.
What Happens Next
A date for Brown’s sentencing has not yet been set.
As well as a maximum penalty of seven years in federal prison, he also faces a fine of up to $250,000, restitution, and three years of supervised release following a prison term.
Brown also faces other charges, including domestic violence, ill treatment of animals and possession of a stolen vehicle, The State reported.
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