GOLDEN, Colo. -- An Arvada man pleaded guilty Tuesday to aggravated animal cruelty for dragging a horse behind his truck last summer.

John Wilmarth McCulley, 44, was arrested in June 2009, after 17 malnourished and mistreated horses were seized from his property, officials said.

An arrest affidavit alleged that McCulley pulled a horse behind a pickup truck with a halter rope tied around the horse's neck. The animal subsequently was put down by recommendation of an animal doctor.

This was the second time in two years that the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office seized horses in McCulley's care. Most of the horses seized in May 2009 were the same horses that had been seized in a June 2007 animal abuse case, according to the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office.

A veterinarian, who cared for the horses after both seizures, said their physical condition had "significantly deteriorated" since a judge ordered them returned to McCulley in August 2008, the DA's Office said.

Tuesday, McCulley also pleaded guilty to possession of a weapon by a previous offender.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 26.