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Vikram Chatwal pleads guilty in dog-torching incident

Dream Hotel founder will do 5 days of community service

Vikram Chatwal (Credit: Getty Images )
Vikram Chatwal (Credit: Getty Images )

Hotelier Vikram Chatwal will do five days of community service after he agreed to a plea deal Tuesday for trying to light a pair of Jack Russell terriers on fire last year.

Chatwal, 45, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor of aggravated animal cruelty and an animal cruelty violation, the New York Daily News reported.

On top of his one week of community service, Chatwal agreed to get drug and psychological treatment and pay $1,000 in restitution to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which treated the dogs.

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If he complies with the terms, which include living with his parents, the misdemeanor will be thrown out after a year.

“We’re pleased that the DA’s office realized all of the mitigating factors and is offering this disposition,” Arthur Aidala, Chatwal’s attorney, said after the plea.

Chatwal, founder of the Dream Hotel Group, was arrested in October after attacking the dogs, named Molly and Finnegan, on Wooster Street in Soho near his condominium. The pooches’ dog walker, Isabell Suquilanda, filed a lawsuit after the incident, claiming she had been deeply traumatized.

Chatwal is due back in court on July 19. [NYDN] – Rich Bockmann

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Commercial Real EstateDream Hotel GroupVikram Chatwal