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Aliquippa man charged after 10-month-old puppy dies

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A Beaver County man is facing charges in connection with the death of a 10-month-old puppy. 

Aliquippa police said 24-year-old Brandon Miller is charged with a felony count of aggravated cruelty to animals and a misdemeanor count of animal neglect after a pitbull puppy named "Ace" died. 

Police said they learned about Ace's death on March 7. An emergency vet hospital told police that they were treating a puppy for life-threatening injuries and it didn't survive. The hospital performed a medical examination and turned the findings over to police. 

Investigators said they developed Miller as a suspect. Detectives learned that during a fight at a home on Baker Street between Miller and his girlfriend, Miller threw the puppy against a window twice, causing it to go into seizures. 

A person who wasn't there learned about the fight and took the puppy to the vet hospital, police said. 

Miller was found by Chippewa Township police and taken into custody. He's in the Beaver County Jail. 

It's the latest case of alleged animal cruelty against puppies in the Pittsburgh area. 

Last month, an animal rescue in Westmoreland County rescued six puppies from an abandoned mine in West Virginia. A couple months earlier, California Borough police said they found a puppy inside a portable toilet on Christmas. And in October, four puppies died after they were found tied up in plastic grocery bags inside a garbage can, leading to charges against two people. 

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