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Case #4095 Rating: 3.2 out of 5
Cat stolen, dropped off 15 miles from home
Fort Lauderdale, FL (US)Incident Date: Saturday, Feb 5, 2005
County: Broward
Disposition: Convicted
Defendants/Suspects:
» Christopher Cortes
» Iris Zuckerman
Case Updates: 5 update(s) available
A Fort Lauderdale firefighter and his fianc�e face animal-abuse charges after police say he dropped off a neighbor's cat in the Everglades. Mr. Kibbles, a jet-black cat, was abducted from his home in the Victoria Isles town-house complex in Coconut Creek, driven some 15 miles west on Lox Road out to the Everglades, unceremoniously dumped and left to fend for himself.
Mr. Kibbles headed back east, a journey that took him almost two weeks.
He showed up at his owners' doorstep early on a Friday morning, Feb. 18. Lulu, the family's pet Westie, welcomed him home with quite a racket.
Police say Mr. Kibbles' neighbor, Christopher Cortes, 32, admitted he drove the cat to the Everglades after Mr. Kibbles defecated on Cortes' new silver Chevy Silverado pickup.
The Broward state attorney's office has filed misdemeanor theft and animal-cruelty charges against Cortes, a Fort Lauderdale firefighter-paramedic. He has a 9 a.m. court date Wednesday.
Mr. Kibbles, who is about 3 years old, disappeared on Feb. 5 while his owner, Maggie Leonard, was celebrating her 11th birthday with friends.
Maggie and her mother, Nancy, live next door to Cortes and his fianc�e, Iris Zukerman, 31, in Coconut Creek. Misdemeanor theft and animal cruelty charges also were filed against Zukerman, according to court records.
After Mr. Kibbles vanished, Nancy and Maggie Leonard went searching for the cat. Later, Nancy Leonard learned from a neighbor that Zukerman was trying to lure Mr. Kibbles with cat food, according to police.
Maggie's father, Peter Leonard, paid Cortes a visit.
Cortes told Peter Leonard he dropped the cat off in the Everglades because Mr. Kibbles had used his truck as a litter box one too many times.
Further, Cortes said, Mr. Kibbles ''was a wild animal and would survive just fine eating mice in the wild,'' according to the police report.
When Coconut Creek police arrived, ''Cortes advised that the cat was a stray and he dropped it off in the Everglades near a farm,'' according to the report.
After Mr. Kibbles disappeared, Nancy Leonard said she thought she'd never see him again.
The cat entered the family's life about three years ago as a starving stray. They fed him, got him neutered and vaccinated.
When she walked Lulu, Mr. Kibbles would follow.
Not long after filing the police report, Maggie was having a sleepover with friends. Mom and the girls were telling stories about Mr. Kibbles.
''We held hands and we just said a little prayer that we hoped he was saved,'' Leonard recalled,
The next morning, Lulu started barking.
Mr. Kibbles was at the door.
''He just came walking in,'' Leonard said. ``It was amazing.''
Cortes still is on active duty with Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue, said Assistant Chief Stephen McInerny. An internal investigation has been opened.
''We're waiting for his day in court,'' McInerny said.
Meanwhile, Cortes and Zukerman have hired the Fort Lauderdale law firm Benjamin & Aaronson to represent them.
Attorney Peter Patanzo said he has filed a plea of not guilty. ''Mr. Cortes wants nothing more than to be exonerated from these charges,'' Patanzo said.
Case UpdatesChristopher Cortes, 33, and wife Iris Zuckerman, 33, were sentenced Thursday to 100 hours and 50 hours of community service, respectively, for snatching the black cat from their neighbor's home and leaving him in the Everglades.
Police said Cortes was upset the cat used the back of his pickup truck as a litter box and scratched it.
Cortes, a firefighter, drove the cat 15 miles into the Everglades and left him there to fend for himself in February 2005, police said. The couple had pleaded no contest to petty theft and declined to comment after the hearing. Police said Cortes told them he took the cat.
Maggie Leonard, the 12-year-old owner of the cat, said Mr. Kibbles made his way back to his Coconut Creek home two weeks after being left. At first her kitty behaved "weird," but was quickly back to being his own self, she said.
The young girl said she's disappointed in Cortes and his wife, who were close friends of the family. She said firefighters should be saving cats from trees, not stealing them.
The charges will be erased from their criminal records if they complete community service and they pay several hundred dollars in court fees. Defense attorney Peter Patanzo had suggested that his clients be allowed to pay fines instead of performing the service, but the judge refused.
Maggie said she was satisfied with what happened in court. | Source: Forbes - May 19, 2006
Update posted on May 21, 2006 - 11:55PM |
| Mr. Kibbles, the now-famous cat at the center of a bizarre legal dispute, won't have his day in court just yet. At a hearing, the Judge set the next hearing for May 18, 2006. | Source: Miami Herald - March 8, 2006
Update posted on Apr 2, 2006 - 10:25PM |
It's not the trial of the century, but many cat fanciers are awaiting it with great curiosity. They'll have to wait a week longer.
The trial that was scheduled to begin Feb 28 against Fort Lauderdale firefighter Christopher Cortes and his fianc� Iris Zuckerman has been rescheduled to March 7.
Prosecutors say that in February 2005 the pair snapped up their neighbors' black cat, Mr. Kibbles, and drove him 15 miles west into the Everglades and left him there.
A police report indicated that Cortes was angry about Mr. Kibbles' use of the flatbed his new pickup truck as a litter box.
But the couple said they thought the cat was a stray and wanted to save him from being picked up and put to sleep.
After about two weeks, Mr. Kibbles found his way back to his Coconut Creek home, his owner said.
Except for a few nicked paws, he was not seriously injured. The defendants have been charged with misdemeanor theft and animal cruelty.
Broward Circuit Judge Ginger Lerner-Wren is presiding over the case.
Last April, Lerner-Wren ruled that the firefighter and his girlfriend could have no contact the cat or his owner. The cat was not to contact them, either, she ordered. | Source: Miami Herald - March 1, 2006
Update posted on Mar 6, 2006 - 12:37PM |
A firefighter who is accused of stealing his neighbor's cat and dumping it in the Everglades was simply trying to protect it, his attorney said on Wednesday. Attorney James S. Benjamin pleaded not guilty on the firefighter's behalf to charges of misdemeanor theft and animal cruelty.
Benjamin said his clients, Christopher Cortes, 32, and Cortes' fianc�e, Iris Zukerman, 31 -- who faces the same charges -- were trying to keep the homeowners association from picking up a stray cat and taking it to be euthanized.
A homeowners association representative could not be reached for comment.
The Coconut Creek couple, who were not required to attend the hearing at a northern satellite office of the Broward County Court in Deerfield Beach, did not appear there on Wednesday.
''All they were trying to do was save the life of an animal,'' Benjamin said after the brief hearing.
Police reports, however, say Cortes was upset that the cat used his new pickup truck as a litter box, and that Zukerman lured Mr. Kibbles to Cortes by baiting him with a bowl of cat food and drawing him from his home in the Victoria Isles town house complex.
Cortes then snatched the cat up, drove it 15 miles west on Lox Road out to the Everglades and dumped it, according to police reports.
Benjamin said Cortes took Mr. Kibbles to a farm.
Mr. Kibbles remarkably found his way home over the course of two weeks, his owners say, showing up on their doorstep Feb. 18.
''They both should pay for what they did,'' said Nancy Leonard, 47, the woman who is pursuing the charges.
``If they had just told me there was a problem, none of this would have happened.''
Leonard, who was at the hearing with her daughter Maggie, 11, says her neighbors are cruel. The cat was not a stray.
''That cat slept in my house. I fed it, neutered it and vaccinated it,'' Leonard said after the hearing.
``It was mine, and Iris Zukerman knew it.''
Benjamin said that Leonard has a vendetta against the couple after a falling out between the neighbors.
During Wednesday's court hearing, Benjamin pleaded with Judge Steven Deluca for a bench trial in which a judge would decide the case.
He said that he was worried that a trial before a jury would ``garner sympathy because an animal is involved.''
But at the urging of a prosecutor, Deluca ruled for a jury trial. The case will be heard at the central courthouse in Fort Lauderdale.
A trial date has not been set.
Cortes, a firefighter-paramedic, is still on active duty with Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue. An internal investigation has been opened. | Source: Miami Herald - March 24, 3005
Update posted on Mar 25, 2005 - 3:50AM |
| The Broward state attorney's office has filed misdemeanor theft and animal-cruelty charges against Cortes. His court date is Wednesday. A lawyer for Cortes said he has filed a plea of not guilty and that Cortes wants nothing more than to be exonerated from the charges. | Source: WESH - March 21, 2005
Update posted on Mar 22, 2005 - 5:44AM |
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