Case Details

Four cats thrown onto fire during domestic dispute
Hagerstown, MD (US)

Incident Date: Sunday, Jul 2, 2006
County: Washington
Local Map: available
Disposition: Convicted
Charges: Felony CTA

Abuser/Suspect: Robert Tomlin

Case Updates: 4 update(s) available

Case ID: 9258
Classification: Burning - Fire or Fireworks
Animal: cat
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Drugs or alcohol involved
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What began as a case of domestic abuse turned deadly for four kittens. Now a Washington County man is behind bars.

Robert Tomlin, 22, allegedly assaulted his girlfriend, then torched her four kittens.

The Washington County Sheriff's Office said Tomlin got into a fight with 19-year-old Kelli Green at their home on Crystal Falls Drive July 2 morning.

Investigators said Tomlin knocked Green down and kicked her in the head, causing her to temporarily lose hearing in her right ear.

Tomlin is also accused of throwing four kittens into a fire pit, killing the pets. He has been arrested but Green said her boyfriend belongs in an alcohol rehab center and not behind bars.

Green said that "It wasn't him. He was intoxicated. Heavily intoxicated. I mean, I don't know. He loved the cats. He loves me. He wouldn't have done anything to hurt me intentionally."

Tomlin faces charges of second-degree assault and animal mutilation. He is being held at the Washington County detention center on $25,000 bail.

Case Updates

A man convicted of killing four of his girlfriend�s kittens by throwing them into a fire was sentenced today to nearly a year in prison despite the couple�s pleas for leniency.

Washington County Circuit Judge John H. McDowell also urged authorities to investigate whether defendant Robert L. Tomlin�s girlfriend, Kelli Green, participated in the animal abuse and then lied to police.

�You have given so many stories, conflicting stories, about what happened that evening that I don�t believe a word you have to say right now,� McDowell told Green after she spoke in Tomlin�s defense.

McDowell ordered Tomlin, 22, to serve the maximum of 341 days in prison for violating his probation by moving back in with Green and her five remaining cats days after he pleaded guilty Nov. 13 to aggravated animal cruelty. The plea bargain had included a suspended, 18-month prison term and three years of supervised probation with conditions that Tomlin avoid contact with Green and animals.

Tuesday�s sentence included credit for 199 days Tomlin has already spent in custody.
Source: Frederick News Post - Feb 8, 2007
Update posted on Feb 8, 2007 - 5:33PM 
A Smithsburg man convicted of killing a kitten by throwing it into a fire during a domestic dispute has moved back in with his girlfriend and her five cats, prompting a charge of violating his probation.

Robert Tomlin, 22, was arrested Tuesday on a violation of probation charge. He is being held without bond.

His girlfriend, Kelli Green, initially told police that she left the house after she and Tomlin argued. She said when she returned she found the remains of four 1-week-old kittens in the pit.
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She recanted the statement a month later. Authorities only found the remains of one kitten.

Tomlin received a suspended 18-month sentence last month and was ordered to have no contact with animals and no contact with Green.
Source: The WBAL Channel - Dec 7, 2006
Update posted on Dec 7, 2006 - 6:14PM 
A 22-year-old man pleaded guilty Monday in Washington County Circuit Court to aggravated animal cruelty in connection with the burning deaths of four kittens in July.

Robert Lynn Tomlin, formerly of Smithsburg, was ordered by Washington County Circuit Judge John H. McDowell to serve 18 months in jail on the charge. McDowell suspended that sentence except for the 134 days Tomlin had served since his arrest.

"Taking defenseless animals as you have and destroying them ... There is no excuse for that," McDowell told Tomlin.

McDowell ordered Tomlin to have "no contact with animals or pets" during an ordered three years of probation.

McDowell ordered Tomlin to have a mental health evaluation and a substance abuse evaluation, among standard conditions.

Tomlin's ex-girlfriend and owner of the dead kittens, Kelli Ann Green, left the courtroom and burst into tears after Tomlin was sentenced.

Tomlin struck her and threw four of her kittens into a fire pit July 2, Washington County Assistant State's Attorney Robert Veil said.

When a Washington County Sheriff's Department deputy arrived at 10917 Crystal Falls Drive in response to a domestic violence call, he found Green with "blood on her right ear," Veil said.

Tomlin was drinking and the couple got into an argument, Veil said.

When Green ran next door, she saw Tomlin standing over a fire pit and she knew that her four 1-week-old kittens had been killed, Veil said.

"When she returned to the residence, she heard a hissing in the fire," he said. "There appeared to be a corpse of a small kitten in the fire."

Tomlin's attorney, Assistant Public Defender Carl Creeden, said Green recanted her statement to police in a letter dated Aug. 3, which Veil acknowledged.

Green told McDowell, "The only reason I wrote that letter is because he kept calling me."

She said she still has problems with her ear.

"He also told me he should have finished what he started," she said.

Tomlin told McDowell, "I committed a horrible crime, sir ... You will never see me in this court again."

He said he was planning to move to Hagerstown.

McDowell ordered that he have no contact with Green or her family.
Source: Herald-Mail - Nov 14, 2006
Update posted on Nov 16, 2006 - 1:48AM 
A criminal case against a man accused of assaulting his girlfriend and killing her four kittens by throwing them into a fire will proceed, a judge decided Thursday.

Calling the case "psychiatrically frightening," Washington County District Judge Mark D. Thomas ruled that three charges against Robert Lynn Tomlin will move to circuit court for prosecution.

Tomlin, 22, of 10917 Crystal Falls Drive near Smithsburg, is facing one count each of second-degree assault, aggravated cruelty to animals and using a destructive device. The first count is a misdemeanor; the others are felonies.

The charge of using a destructive device carries the greatest maximum penalty: 25 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

After a preliminary hearing, Assistant Washington County State's Attorney Mark Boyer said that at least a dozen people and groups sent the prosecutor's office letters decrying the alleged crime.

Washington County Sheriff's Department Deputy Ben Jones was the only person to testify at Thursday's hearing.

Jones said he responded to a call at Tomlin's house on July 2 and found Kelli Green, Tomlin's girlfriend at the time, crying, with blood on her and unable to hear in one ear. He said she accused Tomlin of drinking, knocking her down and hitting her in the head.

She also reported that when she left, Tomlin threw her four kittens into a fire in a pit in the yard - although she didn't see him do it, Jones testified.

Jones said he found one dead kitten in the pit and that Green later found the three other dead kittens.

Tomlin also is accused of throwing a propane tank into the fire in an attempt to make it explode, but it didn't, Jones said Green reported seeing Tomlin pull the tank from the fire.

Public defender Andrea Chee-a-tow argued that there was no proof Tomlin threw the tank into the fire, how long the tank was in the fire pit and whether the tank contained anything.

She said no one saw Tomlin throw the kittens in the fire, either. Tomlin, wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, nodded his head vigorously.

Boyer said that when Green asked Tomlin where the week-old kittens were, he said, "They're dead," and walked away.

Chee-a-tow asked Thomas to lower Tomlin's $25,000 bail, but he refused.

"This is a little bit on the psychiatrically frightening side," Thomas said.

Tomlin was being held Thursday evening at the Washington County Detention Center.

The animal cruelty charge carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a $5,000 fine. The maximum sentence for the assault charge is 10 years in prison and a $2,500 fine.
Source: The Herald-Mail - Aug 11, 2006
Update posted on Aug 11, 2006 - 1:29PM 

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NBC 25 - July 6, 2006

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