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Alexander Greger was sentenced up to the maximum of five years, ordered to undergo anger-management classes and submit to random drug and alcohol screenings. He also cannot adopt an animal in the state again, the Beaufort County Circuit Court log said.
Greger was sentenced under the state's Youthful Offender Act, a rehabilitation program for offenders between the ages of 17 and 24, and the amount of time he serves will depend upon his behavior while in prison, Solicitor Duffie Stone said.
Greger's 28-year-old, live-in girlfriend turned him in after she returned to their Brittany Place home Nov. 22 and found him beating their white German shepherd "Jake," a Beaufort County Sheriff's Office report said.
The woman told deputies when she tried to stop him, Greger punched her in the face and bit her several times, the report said. As she escaped to their bathroom, Greger shot the dog several times in the head with a pellet gun, the report said. He then drowned the dog in the couple's bathtub, the report said.
A few days later, Greger adopted a German shepherd-mix puppy named Tag from the Jasper Animal Rescue Mission in Ridgeland. On Dec. 6, Greger reportedly threw the dog against the floor until it died, the report said.
He buried both animals, but it is unclear when.
Deputies later found Tag in a wooded area near Gateway Drive on the north end of the island and Jake in a wooded area off New Riverside Drive in Bluffton.
Greger also was accused of beating his girlfriend's adult husky mix, called Paddy, spraying cologne in its eyes, slamming the dog on the floor and holding its head under water, the report said.
Members from several animal groups, including the Hilton Head Humane Association and the Jasper rescue where the dogs were adopted, attended Greger's plea hearing.
"What this man did cannot be tolerated," said Frannie Gerthoffer, executive director of the Humane Association. "I think the judge sent a strong message with the sentence that this kind of behavior is unacceptable."
Gerthoffer said she hopes the sentence will deter some from abusing animals.
Greger has been held on a $35,242 bond at the Beaufort County Detention Center since his Dec. 13 arrest, the jail log said. He will not get credit for time served, Stone said.
He still faces a charge of criminal domestic violence for allegedly hitting his girlfriend when she tried to stop him from abusing the dog, Stone said.
No court date has been set in that case.
