Vicious dog report leads to pot arrest

07:30 AM PDT on Friday, April 1, 2011

GENE GHIOTTO
The Press-Enterprise

A Murrieta man was arrested Thursday after officers responding to a vicious dog report followed the animal home and found marijuana being grown and sold at the house, police said.

Justin Shaun Armstrong, 25, was arrested on suspicion of cultivation of marijuana, possession of marijuana and hashish for sale and theft of utilities, police said.

Armstrong was booked into the Southwest Detention Center with bail set at $25,000, jail records indicate.

The arrest was made after police received a report just before 8 a.m. Thursday of a loose pit bull trying to attack a leashed dog being walked near Whitewood and Alta Murrieta roads, police said.

One of the responding officers tried to control the dog, an Argentine dogo, which looks similar to a pit bull, but it lunged at him, bumping his chest and threatening to bite him on the face, police said. Because the dog posed a danger, the officer pulled his gun and shot it in the head.

The officer was not hurt.

The injured dog ran into the back yard of a house in the 39600 block of Wildflower Road in Murrieta. The officers then spoke with the residents.

During the investigation, officers found evidence that marijuana was being grown and sold at the house, police said. Officers seized an undetermined amount of processed marijuana as well as marijuana plants.

Armstrong, one of two people in the house, was arrested, police said.

"He was the one who claimed responsibility," Murrieta police Sgt. Don Weller said.

The dog suffered moderate injuries and was taken to a veterinarian. The dog's condition was unavailable.