By CHARLES RUNNELLS,
crunnells@news-press.com
A 14-year-old boy who fed a neighbor?s pet cat to an alligator Thursday told investigators he just wanted to see what the gator would do, Cape Coral police reported. The teen was arrested on charges of felony cruelty to animals, feeding a gator and the theft of the cat. The state attorney?s office hadn?t decided what charges to pursue Friday or whether he would be tried as an adult, said spokeswoman Chere Avery.
According to police, the boy stole the 12-year-old cat from a chair in the neighbor?s front yard Thursday afternoon, slipped it into his book bag and took it to a canal on the 1000 block of Southeast 23rd Avenue. He admitted kicking the cat in the stomach and head, and then throwing it into the canal to feed a gator, police said. The boy?s father said his son deeply regretted his actions and he had been crying all night about it. The News-Press has decided not to identify the teen because he has not been officially charged with a crime.
The cat?s owners said the boy led them to the canal, where they saw the dead cat still in the gator?s mouth.
?It had him by the tail,? said Cari Taich, 16, of 1511 S.E. 24th Avenue. ?I started crying. I couldn?t breathe.? The teen initially told police another boy threw the cat to the alligator, but later admitted he acted alone, police reported. The boy was also charged with giving a false statement to police.
Taich got the black-and-white cat, named Homeboy, when she was 5 years old, and she used to sleep with him every night. Taich?s mother, Aurea Maldonado, said she still couldn?t believe the cat was dead. ?Twelve years he?s been with me,? said Maldonado, 48. ?He was like family. He was like my son.?
The cruelty to animals charge is a third-degree felony, since it involves a cruel death or an excessive infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering. f tried as an adult, the teen could get a maximum sentence of five years in jail and/or a $10,000 fine. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has no immediate plans to remove the gator, according to spokesman Gary Morse. The boy was taken to Lee County?s juvenile detention center. His status there wasn?t available Thursday afternoon, since he?s a juvenile and protected by state privacy laws. Police spokesman Angelo Bitsis said he wasn?t aware of a similar case in Cape Coral in at least the past eight years. The boy had never been arrested before for a felony in Cape Coral, Bitsis said. Misdemeanor arrest records are confidential because of boy?s age.
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