Pet-Abuse.Com - Animal Abuse Case Details: Cat stolen, euthanized at shelter

Cat stolen, euthanized at shelter
Islip, NY (US)

Incident Date: Tuesday, Apr 4, 2006
County: Suffolk
Local Map: available
Disposition: Dismissed

Person of Interest: Richard DeSantis

Case Updates: 2 update(s) available

Case ID: 8277

Classification: Theft

Animal: cat

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Suspect was in animal welfare field

The Long Island man accused of trapping his neighbor's cat and having it put down sent at least four other felines to their deaths, according to officials who run an Islip animal shelter.

Richard DeSantis, 56, was arrested April 15, 2006, 11 days after he allegedly took a neighbor's cat to the pound and signed papers for it to be euthanized. A spokeswoman for the town, which runs the shelter, said DeSantis has been there before.

"The shelter's records indicate that since 1995, this gentleman has brought in five cats to be euthanized," said the spokeswoman, who did not give her name. Regina Fagone, the owner of the most recently euthanized cat, said it only confirmed her suspicions. "It doesn't surprise me. Three of them were mine," fumed Fagone, 41.

Police said the alleged April 4 cat-napping was the culmination of an ongoing feud between the Fagone family and DeSantis, who neighbors said rehabilitates birds and other wildlife in his backyard. But Fagone said that since 1998, when she believes DeSantis had two of her cats euthanized at the shelter, the families have simply ignored each other. "It was live and let live," she said, adding that she did not press charges eight years ago because she was new to the neighborhood. Fagone said the most recent cat killing has devastated her two children, ages 12 and 13, who loved the playful feline. Fagone's brother-in-law, Tom Blaser, 57, who lives across the street, said he blames a 1998 Christmas Eve pellet gun shooting of his daughter's tabby, Kelly, on DeSantis. "When I confronted him about it, he said, 'That's not my style,'" Blaser said, adding that he has no proof that the cat, which later died, was killed by DeSantis. "But how many cat killers could be in the neighborhood?" he asked.

Case Updates

The West Islip man charged with trapping his neighbor's cat and having it put down pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge Wednesday.

In exchange for his guilty plea to one count of making a false written statement, DeSantis will be sentenced to six months interim probation. After the six months expire, the charge will be reduced to disorderly conduct -- a violation -- and DeSantis will be required to pay a $250 fine, said his attorney, Eric Naiburg of Central Islip.

Prosecutors have said DeSantis, an animal rehabilitator, in April trapped Regina and Jesse Fagone's Russian blue cat, Coal, in the backyard of his Hyman Avenue home and took him to the Town of Islip Animal Shelter, where it was euthanized. He was charged with cruelty to animals, third-degree criminal mischief and first-degree falsifying business records, among other charges.

The Fagones did not return calls for comment Wednesday.

Naiburg has maintained DeSantis did nothing wrong, and on the contrary, was protecting several injured birds he rescued and kept in his yard from the terrorizing Coal.

DeSantis made no mention of harming the cat in his plea Wednesday, and his attorney still maintained his actions were justified.

"My client made one mistake in his life," Naiburg said Wednesday. "When he started having problems with that feral cat, he should have dug a hole, broken its neck, and put it in."

Source: NY Newsday - Feb 28, 2007
Update posted on Mar 5, 2007 - 2:21AM

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In December 1998, two cats belonging to a family in Bay Shore on Long Island vanished. Then, in April, the family's purebred Russian blue disappeared. Other residents of Bay Shore also complained that their cats were missing.

Now a neighbor, Richard DeSantis, 56, faces charges that he lured the Russian blue into his backyard on the night of April 2 with a baited trap, captured it and then took it the next morning to the Islip Town animal shelter to be put to death.

The charges have some neighbors wondering whether Mr. DeSantis was responsible for the disappearance of other cats, but they declined to speak for the record.

But Jesse Fagone, who reported Mr. DeSantis to the police, had plenty to say. "Look up and down our street and we're the only family left on the block with cats," said Mr. Fagone, who lives next door to Mr. DeSantis and owned the Russian blue and two other cats that vanished. He still has two cats and two dogs.

Mr. DeSantis faces felony charges of criminal mischief and falsifying records; misdemeanor charges of possessing stolen property and making a false statement; and a minor offense, cruelty to animals.

He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on Monday morning and was released without bail. A woman who answered his home phone referred questions to his lawyer, Eric W. Naiburg.

Mr. Naiburg acknowledged that Mr. DeSantis took a cat to the animal shelter in April to be put to death, but said it was a feral cat with no collar or tags.

"He had no idea it was his neighbor's cat," Mr. Naiburg said.

Mr. Naiburg added that Mr. DeSantis, who is retired, is a wildlife rehabilitator who nurses injured animals back to health. The cat was stalking birds that Mr. DeSantis kept in his backyard and even tried to climb their cages, Mr. Naiburg said.

Mr. Naiburg said state law permits a licensed hunter like his client to trap any cat threatening a protected bird. "Some people believe they have absolutely no responsibility to their own pets," he said.

Mr. Fagone said he turned in Mr. DeSantis after he and his wife, Regina, did their own investigating. Two other family cats — Corky and Grady — had disappeared in 1998. He said he later heard that someone had taken two cats fitting their descriptions to the town shelter to be put to death.

"We thought it was an accident," Mrs. Fagone said.

But after Cole, the Russian blue, slipped out of the house one Sunday evening in April, Mrs. Fagone went to the animal shelter after two fruitless days of searching. She asked to see the form that the shelter requires people to sign when they bring in animals to be put to death.

Mr. DeSantis had signed the form, she said. Her cat was already dead.

He also signed another form on March 21 authorizing the shelter to put to death a black and white cat he took to the shelter, according to Islip Town records.

Mrs. Fagone claimed that Mr. DeSantis had taken three other cats to the shelter, including Corky and Grady, in recent years, but those documents are in storage and were unavailable for review on Monday, said a spokeswoman for Islip Town, Michelle Remsen.

Source: New York Times - June 14, 2006
Update posted on Jun 13, 2006 - 9:18PM

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References

	The Front Page News - April 18, 2006
	CNN.com
	NY Newsday

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Cat stolen, euthanized at shelterIslip, NY (US)

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Cat stolen, euthanized at shelter
Islip, NY (US)