Attorneys/Judges
| Prosecutor(s): | Justin Sanders, Robert Sanders | | Defense(s): | John Delaney | | Judge(s): | Patricia Summe |
CONVICTED: Was justice served?
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Case #14849 Rating: 2.4 out of 5
Two cats stabbed during break-in
Lakeside Park, KY (US)Incident Date: Monday, Sep 1, 2008
County: Kenton
Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Russell Swigart
Case Updates: 6 update(s) available
A Kenton County grand jury indicted a Highland Heights man Thursday [Nov 6, 2008] with two felony counts of torturing cats.
Russell Swigart, 30, is the first person in Northern Kentucky � and possibly the state � to be charged under the law that went into effect on July 15. The law, known as Romeo's Law, increased the penalty for torturing a cat or dog to a felony. It previously was a misdemeanor.
The law was named after a Yellow Labrador tortured by his owner.
In Ohio, animal cruelty charges become a felony on the second offense, according to The Society to Prevent Cruelty to Animals in Cincinnati
Lakeside Park/Crestview Hills police were called in September to a woman's Lakeside Park home for a report of a burglary.
Investigators found the back door forced open and two cats � named Piggy and Mr. Frank � stabbed to death, according to the report. The woman told investigators she believes her third cat, Alley, hid from the intruder.
Swigart immediately became a suspect after the woman told investigators that he had sent her numerous threatening text messages. The messages stated that Swigart was going to break into her home, kill the cats and burn the building down, according to the report.
Swigart was arrested the next morning at his home. He still had a knife covered in cat hair and blood, according to the report.
An investigators wrote in a report that Swigart told officers that "he had done something bad but it didn't involve humans."
The two felonies for torturing, and ultimately killing the cats, are in addition to a felony burglary charge. If convicted of all three felonies, Swigart could be sentenced to as much as 30 years in prison.
Case UpdatesTwo more years of peace. That's how the victim describes the Kentucky Parole Board's decision to keep cat killer in prison. Russell Swigart serving 12 years in prison. He was convicted for breaking into a co-worker's house and torturing and killing her two cats.
Local 12 News Reporter Joe Webb caught up with the victim.
Bridgett Wright says she's grateful Swigart will serve at least two more years before he's eligible for parole again, and hopes he serves all 12 years. And she says this a victory, not only for animal rights, but for women.
"I am absolutely relieved."
Bridgett Wright says it's been a long two and a half years since Russell Swigart broke into her Lakeside Park condo and killed her cats Piggy and Mr. Frank, but not long enough for him to go free.
Bridgett Wright, Crime Victim: "I honestly feel that this man is a danger to any woman that he comes in contact with. I am afraid of him. I feel when he's released he'll try to kill me."
Wright coordinated an exhaustive campaign to convince the parole board to keep Swigart in jail. Prosecutor Justin Sanders sent a lengthy letter detailing Swigart's threats and previous cruelty to women's pets. Wright launched a petition campaign on change-dot-org and asked the animal shelter to spread the word.
"With modern technology, such as facebook, we were able to contact a lot of people. We put it out there so everyone would sign the petition and I think that helped."
In two weeks, Wright collected more than 15-thousand signatures. She presented them to the parole board yesterday before they met with Swigart today.
"I never in a million years dreamed I'd get so many people standing behind me. Very therapeutic knowing I wasn't alone in my fight."
Wright says it was a fight for women and animal rights. She feels lucky to be here to fight.
"If I had been home the evening of September 25th when Russell Swigart broke into my home, I wholeheartedly believe I would not be sitting here talking to you today. I think he broke in with an 11 inch knife to kill me."
Swigart had been Wright's supervisor in a medical supply sales business. They had dated a couple of times, but she stopped that before he became threatening. Swigart was one of the first in Kentucky convicted under Romeo's law that made animal cruelty a felony offense. He will be eligible for parole again in February 2013. Bridgett Wright says she'll fight it then.
Bridgett Wright says a third cat, named Allie, was in the condo that night, but hid from Russell Swigart. Allie is alive and well and still lives with Wright. | Source: local12.com - Feb 15, 2011
Update posted on Feb 17, 2011 - 1:59PM |
A Northern Kentucky man who was convicted of breaking into a woman's home and killing her two cats has been denied parole.
Russell Swigart of Highland Heights pled guilty in October 2009 on burglary and animal cruelty charges. He was sentenced to ten years in prison for his crimes.
Swigart was up for parole on Tuesday, but was it was denied by the parole board.
Swigart admitted in court to breaking into a neighbor's home in 2008. While committing the burglary, Swigart says he stabbed the woman's two cats. Then he apparently texted the cat owner about what he'd done after killing her cats.
Swigart was the first person in Northern Kentucky to be charged under a new law that makes it a felony to torture and kill a cat or dog. | Source: fox19.com - Feb 15, 2011
Update posted on Feb 17, 2011 - 1:59PM |
A local cat lover is trying to keep her cat's killer behind bars.
Russell Swigart was the first to be convicted under a Kentucky law that made animal torture a felony when he killed a woman's cats after she stopped dating him. The woman, Bridgett Wright, now wants to keep him locked up.
Wright said she and her cat, Alley, are still shaken by what happened. Alley hid while her other cats, Mr. Frank and Piggy, were stabbed to death by Swiggart, a former co-worker who she dated briefly, Wright said.
"Breaking into my home, that's a violation. But what he took from me was irreplaceable. That's what hurts," Wright said.
Swigart was charged under Kentucky's Romeo law, which was only a few months old when the crime happened in September 2008. Authorities said the law made animal torture a felony, and Swigart was given a 12-year sentence for breaking and entering and killing the two cats.
Former prosecuting attorney Justin Sanders, who prosecuted the case in Kenton County, said he sent a letter to the Kentucky parole board last month asking that Swigart be kept in prison.
Swigart is up for parole on Feb. 15, Sanders said.
"Two years is not enough time for someone who is that violent and that dangerous," Sanders said. "It's pretty well known that people who commit violence against animals end up committing violence against people, and I think it's very possible that Russell Swigart could be a serial killer."
The former prosecutor said Swigart attacked at least three other women and their pets.
Wright said she has started an online campaign on Change.org to collect signatures to take with her when she testifies before the parole board on Feb. 14.
"I feel that he does get out, he's going to kill me. And if he doesn't kill me, he's going to hurt someone else," Wright said. | Source: wlwt.com - Feb 4, 2011
Update posted on Feb 5, 2011 - 8:37PM |
A Northern Kentucky man thought to be the first person prosecuted under a Kentucky law that made it a felony to kill a domesticated animal will be up for parole after serving about two years and five months of a 12-year sentence.
The parole hearing for Russell Swigart, 32, of Highland Heights is set for Feb. 15 at Northpoint Training Center, a medium security prison in Burgin.
He pleaded guilty in October 2009 in Kenton Circuit Court to two counts of torture of a dog or cat in addition to one count of second-degree burglary.
Swigart broke into Bridgett Wright's Lakeside Park townhome in September 2008 and stabbed to death two cats, named Piggy and Mr. Frank. A third cat, Alley, hid and wasn't harmed. Swigart and Wright were former coworkers and had a brief romantic relationship.
Former Kenton County Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Justin Sanders has written a letter to Kentucky's parole board urging its members to order Swigart to serve out his entire sentence.
"It is imperative that Kentucky's citizens feel free and safe to end bad relationships, to break up with a husband, wife, boyfriend, or girlfriend without fear of revenge or retribution," Sanders wrote.
"At the risk of stating the obvious, people must be able to tell someone, 'I just want to be friends,' without placing themselves, their families, their pets, or other loved ones at risk of serious physical injury or death."
Swigart has a history of injuring or killing women's pets since the late 1990s, according to court records. Swigart "has left a trail of emotionally devastated and frightened women in his wake," Sanders wrote.
Swigart was convicted in 1997 of domestic violence arising from a series of attacks on a woman who lived with him in Wauseon, Ohio. After the woman moved out, Swigart came to her new home, placed her pet cat in a shoebox, sealed it with tape and shot the box with a shotgun - killing the trapped cat.
He then forced his former female roommate to look at her dead cat and threatened to do the same to her, Sanders said.
Several years after the domestic violence conviction, Swigart stole a female neighbor's key, had a copy made and used it to secretly enter her Columbus, Ohio, apartment to beat her two dogs, Sanders wrote.
A woman Swigart was living with in Columbus told Sanders that Swigart beat her cat so badly that it sustained several broken ribs, a punctured lung and a tongue laceration.
In January 2007, Swigart was working for a medical equipment company headquartered in Chantilly, Va., when he hired Wright as a sales representative. The pair had a four-month, on-and-off relationship that ended in July 2007, according to court records.
In September 2008, after Swigart quit his job at the medical equipment company, he started sending unsolicited, alarming and threatening text messages to Wright, according to court records. The text messages indicated Swigart had broken into Wright's townhome and killed the cats. Wright, who was on business in Ashland, Ky., called police, who found the dead cats.
"Bridgett Wright is likely alive today only because she took a last minute, out-of-town business trip," Sanders wrote. "The evidence in this case showed that Mr. Swigart did not know that Ms. Wilson was out of town until he broke into her condo, armed with a deadly weapon - the large hunting knife."
Sanders provided the parole board with the findings of a 1997 study by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals that found a person who has committed animal abuse is five times more likely to commit violence against people and four times more likely to commit property crimes.
"It is not unreasonable to believe that (Swigart) may even be a serial killer in the making," Sanders wrote. | Source: cincinnati.com - Jan 25, 2011
Update posted on Feb 3, 2011 - 10:26AM |
A Kenton County Judge has sentenced a Highland Heights man to the maximum of 12 years in prison for breaking into a former co-worker's home and stabbing her two cats to death.
Back in September 2008, Russell Swigart admitted to breaking into a former co-workers condo in Lakeside Park and stabbing her two cats named Piggy and Mr. Frank.
Prosecutors say Swigart also sent Bridgett Wright text messages telling her what he was doing to the cats.
"He had to actually scale my deck and break in a glass door to get in my residence. I feel like he broke in in a fit of rage and anger to do harm and if I would have been home I feel I would have been greatly damaged myself or maybe killed," said Wright.
Swigart, a college graduate and former sales supervisor, apologized to Wright's family and admitted he had a mental problem.
The judge responded with a maximum sentence of 12 years--10 years for burglary charge and two years for torturing the two cats.
"So you get into a building that's hard to get into and you exercised a lot of energy killing two things you knew she loved best and that in addition to being illegal is just downright mean and rageful," said Kenton County Judge Patricia Summe.
For Wright, she lost not only her two pet cats that she considered her family, but also her sense of security.
Swigart will be eligible for parole after serving 20 percent of his sentence. That's about one year due to credit for time served.
Wright says she's willing to go to Frankfort to fight to keep Swigart locked up.
"He's a dangerous man. Anyone that's capable of holding down two house pets and brutally killing them in their home and then texting the owner to let them know what he did to end their lives in a tragic way I feel is a danger society and should be off the streets," she said.
Wright has also filed a civil lawsuit to protect herself from Swigart.
She's also set up Web site about her two cats and the new Kentucky law.
This marks one of the first convictions in the Commonwealth of Kentucky under a new law that makes it a felony to torture a cat or dog. | Source: google.com - Dec 14, 2009
Update posted on Feb 3, 2011 - 10:21AM |
The accused killer of two housecats became the first person in Northern Kentucky - and possibly the state - to be charged under a law that now makes it a felony to torture and kill a cat or dog.
Russell Swigart, 30, of Highland Heights was indicted Thursday on two counts of killing the pets.
Investigators say he broke into the Lakeside Park home of his former employee, Bridgette Wright, and attacked the cats, named Piggy and Mr. Frank.
He also left threatening messages for Wright, they say.
Swigart was arrested the morning after the cats were found. He had a knife covered in cat hair and blood, according to court records.
He was originally charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty when he was arrested Sept. 26. Investigators at the time were unaware of the felony law that went on the books July 15.
Swigart faces up to five years on each cruelty count. He would have faced no more than 12 months in jail under the previous law.
Swigart was also indicted on one count of burglary for allegedly breaking into the home. That charge carries a penalty of 10 to 20 years in prison. If found guilty on all charges, he could be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison.
The burglary charge will be easier to prove, Kenton Commonwealth's Attorney Rob Sanders said.
In order to get a felony conviction for killing the cats, Sanders must show that the animals died while being tortured. He declined to be specific, but said he thinks the evidence supports the felony charges.
The tougher penalty for killing animals came about after someone videotaped a yellow Labrador in southeastern Kentucky being punched, body slammed and choked, said Courtney Girdler, a board member of the Pulaski County Humane Society.
The law was named after the dog, Romeo. The dog survived, and stamped the legislation with his paw when Gov. Steve Beshear signed it.
"When we passed this law, there was broad bipartisan support for it," said state Sen. Damon Thayer, who co-sponsored the bill. "This type of intentional cruelty should be not tolerated."
The Republican has cats, dogs and horses at his Georgetown home.
Swigart was being held at the Kenton County jail Thursday in lieu of $100,000 bond.
His public defender, John Delaney, said he wasn't familiar enough with the indictment to comment. | Source: Cincinnatti Enquirer - Nov 7, 2008
Update posted on Nov 7, 2008 - 2:49PM |
References
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