Rodney Johnson 

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (AP) — A southern Illinois man has been sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to animal torture and aggravated animal cruelty for his attack on a dog.

The Madison County state’s attorney’s office says 45-year-old Rodney W. Johnson of Granite City on Thursday admitted to spraying a dog with a corrosive liquid that caused the loss of skin over a large portion of the 10-year-old Maltese mix’s body. The dog beat the odds against his survival, however he lost all his hair in the February incident.

Assistant Madison County State’s Attorney Chad Loughrey says Johnson became a suspect because he was living with the dog’s owner.