Man charged with animal cruelty after dog dies

Detectives are investigating the grisly death of a dog what overheated and died after being tied down with a chain.

The neighbor that found the dog and tried to save it is speaking out.

In the City of Phoenix, there is a new law restricting the tethering of a dog, but that isn't the case in other parts of the valley. Monday's incident happened on a county island near McQueen and Riggs Road.

MCSO deputies gave water to Ismael Ochoa's pit bulls, trying to keep them alive in the blazing heat. Diane Lisonbee noticed the dogs in distress and called the deputies to the scene. 4 of the dogs were tied up, all but one with no water on one of the hottest days of the summer.

"He didn't make sure when he tied up the dogs that they couldn't tip the water over with their ropes," said Diane Lisonbee.

Three of the dogs survived, despite her valiant efforts one did not.

"I took her to a faucet by the sunflowers, I took her there and was trying to cool her down, her groin, neck, back of the head, but she was on her way," said Lisonbee.

MCSO says 31-year-old Ochoa tried to run out the back and jump into his truck, but they arrested him. He was later booked into the Fourth Avenue Jail for animal cruelty and neglect for not taking care of his dogs.

"There is a right way and a wrong-way, this was the wrong-way. People were telling him this was an accident waiting to happen," she said.

The three injured dogs are being cared for at MCSO's animal MASH unit. MCSO says Ochoa was also raising chickens on the property, and some of them did not have water either.