Greensburg, PA -- Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole W. Ziccarelli announces a guilty plea by a Mount Pleasant man who severely injured a dog and recorded a video of the abuse. 

Zachary Hixson, 30, entered a general guilty plea on June 9, 2025 in front of Common Pleas Judge Scott Mears. 

Troopers responded after the dog's owner reported that her 10-year-old dog, Snickers, was severely injured and unable to walk after the dog was around Hixson. 

Hixson recorded the abuse on a cell phone that showed him punching the dog, choking it, holding a lit cigarette to the dog's eye, and holding the dog by its tail and dropping it. 

DA Ziccarelli thanks Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Ranger for prosecuting this case on behalf of the Commonwealth.

Hixson will be sentenced in the next 90 days.