(Memphis)  A Memphis man has been charged with aggravated animal cruelty.

Marcus Curry is behind bars, accused of killing a puppy by putting it in a running dishwasher.

The 27-year-old told police he put the dog in the dishwasher to keep it from going to the bathroom on the floor and left it there too long.

See the story tonight at 6 on News Channel 3.

Curry was arrested after someone found the dead dog in a duffel bag in a dumpster.

“That’s sick, why would you do that? You wash dishes with a dishwasher. Why would you put a dog in there,” said Sean Williams.

Some contractors doing work at the Eden at Watersedge Apartments say they saw the German Shepherd puppy on an apartment porch without water and told Curry he needed to take better care of the dog.

They say he took the puppy inside, and about an hour later Curry went back outside and placed a red duffel bag in the dumpster.

“I was thinking to myself ‘That must be the dog,'” said Henry Jones, one of the contractors who gave the puppy some water and later found it in the dumpster.

“I unzipped the bag and saw the dog and it was wet,” said Jones.

Curry is being held on a $40,000 bond.