A charge of cruelty to animals filed against a Fort Bragg soldier accused of shooting an emotional support dog was dismissed this morning in Harnett County District Court.
Jarren Heng, 25, pleaded guilty to having a gun on educational property and conspiracy to commit cruelty to animals, according to Harnett County Assistant District Attorney Edward Page.
A charge of discharging a firearm on educational property also was dismissed. It is not clear that either defendant knew the woods where they shot the dog were within the property boundaries of the school, Page said.
“That is why the discharging a firearm on school grounds charge was dismissed upon the plea to the lesser charge,” Page said.
Heng and Marinna Rollins, 23, an Army veteran, were charged in late April with tying an emotional support dog to a tree and shooting it to death.
The dog, which was shot 10 times, legally belonged to Rollins’ estranged husband Matt Dyer who had named the dog Huey. Rollins called the dog Camboui.
Heng and Rollins filmed the incident on a cellphone.
Both were charged initially in Cumberland County as Heng and Rollins were living in Fayetteville when the dog was killed.
However, investigators later determined that the shooting took place at Western Harnett High School, resulting in the Harnett County charges.
Rollins committed suicide on May 7.
The two charges to which Heng pleaded guilty were consolidated for sentencing, Page said.
Heng was sentenced to between 6 and 17 months in prison, but the sentence was suspended. Heng will be on supervised probation for 12 months.
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