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Man confesses to poisoning neighborhood dog, police say

Posted at 5:57 PM, Jul 07, 2014
and last updated 2014-07-07 20:10:25-04

LEHI, Utah -- Police say they now know who poisoned two dogs in a Lehi neighborhood.

Last week one dog died from what looked like rat poison -- another dog, one fence down, had similar symptoms, but survived.

Melanie Green's dog Rowen died just hours after eating tuna laced with rodent poison.

Lehi police say her neighbor, 47-year-old Bart Adams intentionally placed the poison along his fence line because he didn't like the family's pet.

"Our neighbor is the only one that he just did not like. He would run up and bark at him -- never touched him or anything, but would bark at him. The neighbor would get really big and try to intimidate him and yell at the dog," Green said.

Detectives said someone called in a tip, which gave them the information they needed to get a search warrant. When they showed up to search the house, they say, Adams gave investigators a full confession.

"I know the whole neighborhood was a little uneasy about it. And I think this puts it a little bit at ease," Green said.

Initially a felony charge was expected in the case, but because the suspect cooperated, police say Adams won't face jail time, but will be charged with a class A misdemeanor for the poisonings.