Kitten tortured to death
Edgemere, MD (US)Incident Date: Thursday, Oct 1, 2009
County: Baltimore
Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged:
» Kevin Abel
» Scott McDowell
» Richard Rioux
Three men are accused in a horrific case of animal abuse. Police say the men tortured a cat and even stuffed it in a microwave.
Thursday afternoon, two of the defendants appeared in court. Derek Valcourt explains how they tortured the young kitten.
You wouldn't want to have 19-year-old Kevin Abel as your house sitter. Andrea Hooper did; she and her family say their five-week-old kitten paid the ultimate price for it.
"You could just lay with her, and she would sit with you for hours," said Andrea.
The family got new kittens to replace the one that police say was tortured and killed.
When Abel invited his friend 18-year-old Scott McDowell over to the Hoopers' house as he was house sitting, police say McDowell brought another man Richard Rioux.
Police say the three were intoxicated when Rioux began torturing the kitten.
"At one time or another, he put the cat in a freezer then a dryer, ran the dryer, a microwave, twirled the cat around on the ground by the tail, hit the cat," said Bill Toohey, Baltimore County Police spokesperson.
Prosecutors say 25-year-old Rioux was the one who carried out most of the torture, and they say they hope to be able to offer a plea deal to the other two defendants to get them to testify against Rioux.
Abel, who is from White Marsh, and McDowell from Sparrows Point, both face animal cruelty charges along with Rioux. Their trials have been postponed -- leaving the Hooper family waiting for justice.
"It's disgusting; I can't believe it. I don't understand what somebody thinks of to do something like that to an innocent thing," said T.J. Hooper.
A new trial date has been set for all three defendants for February 17. References« MD State Animal Cruelty Map
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