DENVER -- The woman who stole a dog that was dragged to death through the Colorado National Monument admitted her guilt Friday.

Melissa Lockhart, 32, pleaded guilty in federal court to being an accessory after the fact to the crime of aggravated animal cruelty.

Prosecutors said Lockhart told her brother, Steven Romero, to get rid of the dog after it killed a cat at her house. Romero took "Buddy" to Colorado National Monument, tied a rope around the dog's neck, attached that rope to the back of a pickup truck, and drove uphill for at least two miles. Buddy died of internal hemorrhaging consistent with a dragging death.

After Buddy was dead, Romero cut the rope and left the Monument, leaving Buddy’s mutilated body on the side of the road. The dog's body was found by National Park Service workers on Dec. 30.

According to the stipulated facts in the plea agreement, on Dec. 29, Buddy and another dog belonging to Steve Leber were in the back of his pickup truck in Delta, near where Lockhart was seeing a doctor.

The dogs jumped out of the pickup truck and were playing with Lockhart's kids when she got out of her doctor's office. Instead of looking for the dogs' owner, Lockhart said she took both dogs home because her boys wanted her to.

Later that day, she and her brother had returned home from dinner and saw that their kitten had been killed. She told Romero to get rid of Buddy and Romero told her he would kill it. After he killed the dog , she agreed to lie for him so he wouldn't get into trouble, according to court documents.

Lockhart faces a maximum of 18 months in federal prison and a maximum of $125,000 in fines when she is sentenced on Sept. 17. She has been released on bond.

Last month Romero pleaded guilty to aggravated animal cruelty. He could get up to three years in prison. Romero told the judge that he has an "anger problem" and is taking medication for it.

A Facebook group called "Demand Justice For Buddy" has more than 260,000 members.

Additional Resource:

• Read court documents pertaining to Melissa Lockhart's guilty plea.