The Nassau District Attorney announced an arrest in the case of an abused dog left in a crate outside of a Freeport shelter.

Nassau County's District Attorney's office says 41-year-old Damian Douglas, of West Hempstead, has been charged with two counts of misdemeanors.

It comes after the 5-year-old mutt named Athena was found earlier this month stuffed in an enclosed crate outside Bobbi & The Strays in Freeport. Prosecutors released security camera video to the media - showing a man dropping off Athena in a crate and leaving the scene in a white Mercedes.

Athena was not only emaciated but also had several deep open wounds.

District Attorney Anne Donnelly says tips from the public and video of the car helped investigators track down Douglas.

Prosecutors say Douglas gave investigators a written confession stating he kept the dog confined in a crate for five months straight from February to July, claiming the dog was aggressive.

"There's no excuse for doing that to a dog - if someone has a dog being aggressive to their owner you can bring it to a vet or to a shelter and say, 'I can't care for the dog anymore,'" Donnelly says.

Bobbi & the Strays manager Elyse Jordan says Athena has a long road to recovery but that at least there's a suspect facing responsibility for possibly abusing her.

"It's horrendous, it's one thing to not like animals but to have a being suffering like that, that's horrible," Jordan says.

Douglas pleaded not guilty to charges of abusing and abandoning the dog.

He faces up to a year in jail if convicted.