Prosecutors have charged a Santa Ana, California, man with luring cats with food to kidnap and then kill them.
Santa Ana Animal Control received seven reports of dead or injured cats from November 2024 to April, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday. The cats in Santa Ana had injuries including broken backs and bloodied faces.
Alejandro Oliveros Acosta, 46, is accused of harming the cats and of taking another cat from a Westminster, California, home. Orange County prosecutors have charged him with two counts of felony animal cruelty and one felony count of theft of a companion animal.
Mr. Oliveros Acosta did not show up for his arraignment Wednesday, and police have put out another warrant for his arrest, according to the Los Angeles Times.
On March 21, a Westminster woman reported her Bengal lynx cat and companion animal Clubber was missing. Surveillance footage showed a man, whom prosecutors believe to be Mr. Oliveros Acosta, using a can of food to get the cat to come to him before seizing it and driving away in a white Toyota Tacoma truck.
Clubber was returned after the theft was made public, and authorities did not initially name a suspect. On April 3, a neighbor of Mr. Oliveros Acosta alleged that he saw him lift a cat over his head and slam it to the ground, the district attorney’s office said.
On April 5, Santa Ana Animal Control responded to a report of a sick cat that was not moving. Video footage showed a man picking up the cat from the bed of a white Toyota Tacoma, dropping it on the ground and stomping on it. Authorities have identified the man in the video as Mr. Oliveros Acosta.
Mr. Oliveros Acosta told prosecutors that he killed around 20 cats, including two or three hung from a tree, according to court documents cited by the Los Angeles Times.
He was arrested on April 24 but paid $40,000 in bail and was released prior to being charged. Because he purportedly had methamphetamine on him when he was first taken to jail, Mr. Oliveros Acosta is also facing misdemeanor drug possession charges.
If convicted, he would get up to four years and four months in jail on the animal cruelty and animal theft counts and an additional year if found guilty of misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance, the district attorney’s office said.
