Luis O. Corralez, 23, of Alamogordo, was found guilty by a state District Court jury on Friday of extreme cruelty to animals and conspiracy to commit the act for setting a cat on fire on Nov. 23, 2006, the Alamogordo Daily News reported.

Both Corralez and his cousin, 37-year-old Jose Bustillos, were arrested after a homeowner reported seeing his vehicle on fire, then realized that it was his own cat ablaze underneath his truck, the Daily News reported.

Corralez and Bustillos later told police they had been drinking in a garage when the cat came into the garage and that it was annoying them, the paper said.

Corralez told the officer that he and his cousin held the cat while Bustillos poured some petroleum fuel into a beer can, then tied the can to the cat's tail and set the can on fire, according to the Daily News.

The cat then ran across the street and hid under the man's truck where it suffered burns over its body and later died at a veterinary clinic, the paper reported.

Bustillos was sentenced on Feb. 25 to three years in prison to be followed by one year of parole, while Corralez now awaits sentencing, the Daily News said.