Case Snapshot
Case ID: 19669
Classification: Beating
Animal: cat
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Attorneys/Judges
Judge(s): Raymond Childress


For more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.



Monday, Apr 9, 2012

County: Saint Tammany

Disposition: Convicted

Defendant/Suspect: J. M. Rankin

Case Updates: 1 update(s) available

A Slidell man was arrested earlier this month on cruelty to animal charges after he admitted to beating two kitten in the head with a rock and disposing of them in a dumpster.

Sgt. Sean Beavers said neighbors in the Country Club Trailer Park off Robert Road in Slidell called authorities April 9 to report 71-year-old J.M. Rankin of 198 Becnel Lane, Slidell, was observed by several witnesses placing two kittens in a yellow plastic bag and then beating the bag with a rock.

Beavers said witnesses, who included several children between the ages of 4 and 9, said they were disturbed by the act.

They told responding deputies that when one of the kittens fell out of the bag, Rankin put it back in and resumed beating the bag with the rock.

When the kittens were dead, he dumped them, bag and all, into a dumpster.

Beavers said when Rankin was told he was under arrest for cruelty to animals, he reportedly asked the deputies, "For what? Killing a d**n cat?"

Beavers said the bag with the kittens had fallen to the bottom of the dumpster and could not be recovered. However, Rankin did not deny the actions for which he was being arrested.

Deputies reported that while questioning Rankin, several witnesses, many of which were children, interrupted and were visibly upset by what they observed.


Case Updates

An elderly man arrested for animal cruelty in April was sentenced this week to home incarceration.

J. M. Rankin, 71, pleaded guilty Wednesday in District Judge Raymond Childress' Covington courtroom to two counts of aggravated animal cruelty.

He was sentenced to one year of home incarceration followed by two years of probation.

Rankin admitted when arrested and again in court to using a rock to beat two kittens to death outside former home in the Country Club Trailer Park in Slidell.

Neighbors called authorities after they observed Rankin placing two kittens in a yellow plastic bag and then beating the bag with a rock.

At the time of the incident witnesses, who included several children between the ages of 4 and 9, said they were disturbed by the act.

They told responding deputies that when one of the kittens fell out of the bag, Rankin put it back in and resumed beating the bag with the rock.

When the kittens were dead, he dumped them, bag and all, into a dumpster.
Source: The St Tammany News
Update posted on May 25, 2012 - 8:22PM 

References


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