A Killeen man was indicted by a Bell County grand jury this week after police said he retaliated against a neighbor who reported him to police for allegedly abusing a dog.
Larry Lee Hodges, 41, was indicted Wednesday on a third-degree felony charge of obstruction or retaliation. He was being held in the Bell County Jail on Thursday in lieu of a bond of $50,000.
On May 30, a Killeen police officer responded to Aspen Drive after a person reported cruelty to a dog, according to the arrest affidavit. The person said he “observed … Hodges holding his dog in the air by the collar and slapping it in the face and repeatedly hitting it throughout the body while on the ground. The dog could be heard barking and yelping loudly.”
Police said the incident was recorded on the man’s home surveillance video, which the officer viewed.
“Contact was made with Hodges, who advised he was hitting his dog as a form of discipline,” according to the affidavit. “The officer completed a welfare check of the animal and cleared the investigation of animal cruelty.”
Police said later that day, Hodges went to the man’s residence and threatened to harm him for calling the police. He allegedly went to the man’s residence that day a second time, this time armed with a machete. Police said that he was waiving the machete while making verbal threats.
“(The victim) and his family reasonably feared that Hodges intended to do them harm and that he would carry out his threats against them,” according to the affidavit.
The incidents “of threatening and intimidating behavior” were captured on the man’s home surveillance system.
Also indicted on Wednesday, in unrelated cases, were:
Jill C. Frierson, 23, of Harker Heights, on a charge of possession of a controlled substance less than 1 gram.
Britt’Sosha Z. Martin, 30, of Copperas Cove, on a charge of possession of a controlled substance less than 1 gram.
Claudia A. Coronado, 34, of Copperas Cove, on a charge of possession of a controlled substance 1 gram or more but less than 4 grams.
Matthew R. McKenzie, 21, of Killeen, on a charge of evading arrest with a vehicle.
Christopher R. Sanchez, 42, of Killeen, on a charge of unauthorized use of a vehicle.
Vanza L. Midgette, 56, of Killeen, on a charge of theft of property $2,500, or more but less than $30,000.
Frederick Witherspoon, 36, of Killeen, on a charge of possession of a controlled substance less than 1 gram.
Darryl M. Morrison, 31, of Harker Heights, on a charge of evading arrest with a vehicle.
Tamara Holloway, 35, of Harker Heights, on a charge of theft of property $2,500, or more but less than $30,000.