A 46-year-old Santa Ana man accused of killing dozens of cats in Santa Ana and snatching an expensive Bengal Lynx cat from Westminster has been charged with animal cruelty and is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday.
Alejandro Oliveros Acosta was charged Monday with two counts of animal cruelty and a count of grand theft of a pet, all felonies, as well as a misdemeanor count of possession of methamphetamine, according to the criminal complaint.
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Acosta was scheduled to be arraigned in the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana. He is charged with killing two cats, but prosecutors say they are still investigating and encouraged anyone with relevant information to call Santa Ana and Westminster police.
Acosta posted $20,000 bail when he was released April 24, but prosecutors say they will seek to increase it to $100,000.
Police have fielded multiple calls over the past several weeks about pet cats being snatched and harmed, Officer Natalie Garcia of the Santa Ana Police Department said when Acosta was arrested last month. Several residents pointed to Acosta as a suspect, she added.
Investigators searched his home in the 2300 block of West Wilshire Avenue, where they found evidence of "dozens" of dead cats, Garcia said. The number of pets killed was too numerous to estimate more specifically, she said.
Acosta is also suspected of abducting a Bengal Lynx cat named Clubber from the feline's home in Westminster last month, Garcia said. That cat was reported stolen March 19.
The owner saw the suspect lure Clubber -- possibly with food -- before he snatched the feline and fled in a white pickup truck, police said. The owner was able to get her pet back.
Prosecutors say Santa Ana Animal Control officers had been receiving reports of wounded and dead cats near West Wilshire Avenue and South Clara Street since November. There were seven reports of dead and hurt cats with some sustaining broken backs and bloody faces, prosecutors said.
Video surveillance evidence indicates a suspect lured cats with food before snatching them and driving away in a pickup truck, prosecutors said.
One of Acosta's neighbors saw the defendant slam a cat to the ground at about 4 a.m. on April 3, prosecutors alleged.
Animal control officers were called out April 5 regarding a sick cat, and video surveillance revealed a man in a white Toyota Tacoma pickup truck get the feline out of the vehicle and dump it before stomping on the cat, prosecutors added.
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