NAUGATUCK — A suspended New Canaan police K-9 officer and owner of a local dog training facility is facing an additional animal cruelty charge, authorities said Monday.
Naugatuck police said David Rivera turned himself in Saturday after they obtained a warrant for his arrest, charging him with malicious wounding/killing of an animal.
Police said the charge stems from the original investigation into Black Rock Canine Training “after an additional report of animal abuse was made.”
Police said the dog’s owner claimed the animal had been abused while at Rivera’s Naugatuck training facility in 2021.
Rivera and the facility’s general manager, Daniel Luna, are already facing more than a dozen counts of animal cruelty. Investigators said the two dealt with problem dogs they believed could not be trained by having Luna shoot the animals in the head, according to court filings. Rivera then buried the dogs on the grounds of the property at 100 Hunters Mountain Road, court documents stated.
Rivera, a Stratford resident, is also facing firearms and explosives storage and possession charges. Employees at the facility told investigators Rivera had large amounts of explosives, including TNT, which he claimed he used to teach the dogs to detect explosive devices, according to a warrant for his arrest. But the employees became concerned by the large amount of explosives stored at the facility and at a factory building in Naugatuck, police said. Rivera also did not have a license to have the explosives, police said.
Rivera has pleaded not guilty to the weapons and explosives charges. He has been suspended from the New Canaan Police Department, where he served as a K-9 officer.
Rivera is due in state Superior Court in Waterbury on Aug. 25.