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Case #15434 Rating: 2.2 out of 5
Cats beaten, maced
Eagan, MN (US)Incident Date: Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008
County: Dakota
Charges: Misdemeanor, Felony CTA
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Ryan Jason Wolcott
Case Updates: 2 update(s) available
A tip from an Eagan veterinary clinic may have put the kibosh on the case of the disappearing kittens.
Charges filed this month [April 2009] by the Dakota County Attorney's office against a Maple Grove man accuse him of physically abusing his girlfriend's cat and making three others disappear under mysterious circumstances.
The criminal complaint states Ryan Jason Wolcott, 24, allegedly sprayed mace on his fingers and dipped them into a kitten's eyes. With another cat, the abuse allegedly extended to slamming the animal against the side and bottom of a tub, and possibly into the tub's nozzle.
The complaint states that Eagan police were contacted by an Eagan veterinary clinic on Nov. 19 regarding a possible case of animal cruelty. The owner had brought in her ill cat, Mayzie, the previous day to have it euthanized.
The woman suspected that Wolcott, her live-in boyfriend, was responsible for its symptoms, which included lethargy and issues using the litter box. She found it "comatose" when she came home from work, according to charges.
A clinic doctor later told police that an animal autopsy conducted at the University of Minnesota showed head injury and bleeding around the kidney.
Questioned by police, the cat owner said that while her boyfriend was living with her, two cats disappeared. The complaint states she bought a third cat -- a small kitten -- but Wolcott had attempted to clips its nails one night, become frustrated, and sprayed mace on his fingers and dipped them in the kitten's eyes.
Wolcott allegedly later told her he had taken that kitten to be euthanized. Questioned by police on Dec. 4, he said he released the first two cats in a field behind an Eagan hotel, and he gave the third kitten away in the lobby of a veterinary clinic when he found out treatment would be too expensive, according to charges.
Wolcott allegedly told police that on the evening he attacked Mayzie, he'd had an argument with his girlfriend over the phone. He woke up later and found that the cat had defecated on the floor and soiled her fur.
"He said that he was going to give Mayzie a bath, but when he put her in the water, she scratched him," read the charges.
He "squeezed Mayzie very hard ... hard enough to cause internal injuries" and then hit her body against the side and bottom of the tub, and possibly its nozzle, the complaint states.
He was charged by summons on Friday with a felony count of animal mistreatment, punishable by up to two years in prison, and a misdemeanor count of animal abandonment.
In an unrelated case, Wolcott pleaded guilty in October 2007 in Hennepin County District Court to the charge of disorderly conduct and was ordered to pay $175 in fines and court costs.
Wolcott could not be reached for comment.
Case UpdatesA Maple Grove man charged with brutally beating his girlfriend's cat pleaded guilty to animal torture and abandonment and will spend 30 days in jail.
Ryan Wolcott, 25, had also been charged for abandoning three other cats his girlfriend owned. One was a kitten, which he allegedly tortured by putting pepper spray in its eyes.
Wolcott admitted to tightly squeezing one of his girlfriend's cats and hitting it against the side and bottom of a bathtub in November. His girlfriend found the cat unresponsive in her Eagan home.
She then brought the cat, named Mayzie, to an Eagan veterinary clinic. The cat was put on a respirator but had to be put to sleep.
During the animal's autopsy, head injuries and deep abdominal bruising was found. The veterinarian shared the results with an Eagan animal control officer and an investigation began.
Wolcott's girlfriend told officers she had been living with him since early 2008 and during that time, two other cats disappeared. She then got a kitten, which also disappeared.
The woman told police that Wolcott said he was trying to cut the kittens nails and when it resisted, he sprayed pepper spray on his fingers and dabbed it in the kitten's eyes.
Wolcott told her that he later brought the kitten to the vet, where it was put to sleep. Wolcott told police he gave the kitten away. He also told police he let the other two cats go in an Eagan field.
Wolcott was granted a stay of imposition and placed on supervised probation for three years. | Source: WCOO - Nov 16, 2009
Update posted on Nov 17, 2009 - 9:19AM |
A man accused of torturing his girlfriend's cat to death maintains his innocence.
Ryan Jason Wolcott, 24, of Maple Grove, was charged by the Dakota County Attorney's office this week with one count of felony mistreatment of an animal and one count of animal neglect, a misdemeanor.
"Every case that goes to court isn't true," said Wolcott, reached by phone today. "I gave a cat a bath. Maybe I did it too hard. It wasn't intentional."
The charges state that Wolcott allegedly abandoned two of his girlfriend's cats last year behind a hotel in Eagan. After attempting to give a third kitten a bath, he allegedly dipped his fingers in mace and put them in the kitten's eyes to make the animal stay still, according to the criminal complaint against him.
He told authorities he later gave the kitten away rather than euthanize it, according to charges.
In November, a fourth cat named Mayzie was beaten so hard against the bottom and side of a tub, it collapsed several days later and died, the complaint states.
"I kept trying to keep him in there," Wolcott said. "I must have squeezed him too hard. ... He didn't die for five days. ... That was purely accidental that that happened. I paid for the cat. I paid for all of them."
An Eagan veterinary clinic ordered an animal autopsy and then reported the abuse to Eagan police, which handled the investigation.
Wolcott's next court appearance is May 18 in Hastings. | Source: Pioneer Press - April 17. 2009
Update posted on Apr 20, 2009 - 9:14AM |
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