DETROIT -- A local dog owner has been sentenced to 23 months in prison for deliberately setting his dog on fire and ignoring her burning body as she followed him down the street last month, according to police.

Detroit resident John Delmar Fladger, 44, pleaded guilty and received the maximum sentence to what Humane Society employees said was the worst case of torture they have ever seen.

“It was one of those cases that shocked the conscience. To think that you would destroy your dog like that, and make him suffer makes me think that you have absolutely no regard for people. If you could do that to a dog, I don’t know what you could do to a person,” said Judge David Groner.

One witness said the owner first tried to burn the dog inside an east-side Detroit convenience store. "Yes, inside the store. He was pouring gas," said Evon Yusef, who witnessed the attack. "There was gas all over the place. Customers were scared. They were backing away from him."

Another witness told investigators from the Michigan Humane Society that the owner later seemed to be showing off in front of a group of children.

"He was walking down the street, spilling gas at the dog. He was trying to light the dog at the same time he was walking," the witness said.

Natatia Nix of the Michigan Humane Society called it one of the worst cases she has ever been a part of.

"The (Humane Society) staff sees everything that comes in. We see the hit-by-a-car dogs, the gunshot dogs, the neglected dogs - every type of abuse," Nix said. "But this... We were just looking around the room. We were in there with the dog - each of us were crying."

Nix said the dog, a shepherd mixture, was so badly burned that treatments did not help, so the animal had to be euthanized.

“I am very remorseful for what happened and my soul loved the dog... and under the circumstances, I truly apologize for the incident that happened,” said Fladger.

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