ST. TAMMANY PARISH - The sheriff's office has arrested a man accused of beating and stabbing a neighborhood dog. 

According to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office, deputies were dispatched Sunday to a residence on America Street near Mandeville in reference to a man beating a dog.

Deputies learned that a boy was out selling candy in the neighborhood when a small dog that was properly restrained on a porch at the residence on America Street bit him, causing a minor injury. The boy then told a relative, 29-year-old Matthew Forstall of Mandeville, about the incident.

Deputies say Forstall went to the residence and beat and stabbed the dog with a fishing gaff, causing serious injuries to the dog.

He was booked into the St. Tammany Parish Jail Sunday evening and faces one count of aggravated cruelty to animals.