PROVIDENCE -- A landlord, allegedly angry that a tenant had a forbidden pet, was charged yesterday with clubbing to death a two-month-old puppy.

Junior A. Guerrero, 27, of 341 Plain St., South Providence, allegedly dragged the puppy behind a house at 341-343 Plain St., killed it with a baseball bat and carried it away in a plastic bag.

The suspect, according to the police, later returned and tried to use water to clean up the blood that remained on a concrete surface. The police, who were called to the scene at about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, said a bloodstain appeared to still be visible.

Patrolman Jeremy Doucette found Guerrero in a black vehicle parked at the curb at Broad and Calla streets in Washington Park.

Doucette looked through the window of the vehicle and spotted two plastic bags containing what appeared to be marijuana, he reported.

Doucette seized the bags, and Guerrero was arrested. In the cellblock at police headquarters, an attendant saw what appeared to be blood on Guerrero's sneakers, and the police seized his sneakers as evidence.

The body of the puppy, a black Labrador mix named Soldier and weighing about 16 pounds, was found later. The location was not immediately available.

A necropsy was performed at Ocean State Veterinarian Services, where it was determined that the puppy had been in good health but it had suffered major blunt trauma to both sides of its head, according to Peter Brown, director of the Police Department animal control division.

Brown said the police were looking for the bat.

Guerrero was held overnight at headquarters and brought before District Court Chief Judge Albert E. DeRobbio on two charges yesterday: cruelty to animals, a felony, and possession of marijuana, a misdemeanor.

Pleas to felony charges are not accepted in District Court, so no plea was entered. The charges are consolidated as a felony for case-processing purposes, so no plea was entered on the misdemeanor either, according to the police.

DeRobbio set bond of $25,000 with surety, requiring 10 percent of the amount in cash or the full amount in property, which was posted, and Guerrero was released pending a hearing Sept. 28 in Superior Court on the determination of his legal counsel.

Brown said the preliminary evidence is that Guerrero was displeased because a tenant at the 341-343 Plain St. address was not supposed to have a pet. The police withheld the identities of the tenant and three witnesses.

He said people who are cruel to animals frequently get unduly light punishment and that, in this case, he hopes that if there is a conviction, the culprit receives an appropriately severe punishment.

gsmith@projo.com / (401) 277-7334