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A former Dallas Cowboys player is accused of abandoning a puppy in a storage unit for two days as temperatures soared over 100 degrees.
Dwayne Anthony Missouri, 44, was arrested and charged with animal cruelty, a Class A misdemeanor, in Helotes, roughly 20 miles northwest of San Antonio, according to multiple media reports.
Helotes police responded to reports of a dog barking inside a storage unit of a Storage Mart on June 20, according to an arrest-warrant affidavit obtained by the San Antonio Express-News and other outlets.
Inside the unit, an officer found a small puppy with two empty food bowls and a bag of dog food. Roughly 60% of the storage unit was full of clothes and shoes, and one pair of shoes had urine and fecal matter on it, KSAT Channel 12 reported. Police noted the temperature that day was over 100 degrees.
Helotes Animal Control took possession of the puppy, the affidavit said.
Investigators reviewed surveillance footage showing Missouri brought the dog to the storage unit on June 18 and did not return until June 25.
On June 20, he left a voicemail with Storage Mart, saying he left the dog in the care of someone else and they left the dog in the unit, contradicting surveillance footage.
Missouri was arrested Sunday, and bail was set at $2,000.
Missouri, a defensive end from San Antonio, was selected in the seventh round of the 2001 NFL draft by the Baltimore Ravens but was quickly acquired by the Cowboys, where he played in two games during the 2001-02 season and did not register any statistics. He later played in the Arena Football League.