According to authorities, a police officer believes that police killed more than a dozen neighborhood cats after inducing their property.
Over the course of weeks, the Santa Ana Police Department has received multiple reports of alleged animal abuse and missing cats.
Alejandro Oliveros Acosta, 45, of Alejandro Oliveros Acosta, was arrested Wednesday and booked in Santa Ana City prison on felony charges with cruel animals.
Yessenia Aspeitia, media relations coordinator for the Santa Ana Police Department, said officials were unable to provide the exact number of cats believed to have been injured in the suspect, but it exceeded a dozen.
Authorities said Acosta was affirmatively identified by several victims and witnesses as the person who attracted cats to leave their homes.
Officials from the Santa Ana and Westminster Police Department, as well as Santa Ana’s animal control department, searched Acosta’s home in the 2300 block of West Wilhill Avenue Wednesday morning and detained him. Aspitiya said the department could not provide any other information about the evidence collected by the house.
Aspeitia said investigators are currently gathering a timetable for alleged incidents. Officials are combing local social media groups to learn about stolen or missing cats and merge them with formal reports to the department within a few weeks.
In recent weeks, local cat owners have shared photos of their missing cats and family security footage on social media, showing a man seducing them away from their homes.
Among them is Eva Corlew of Westminster, who posted her 10-month-old Bengal Sandal Cat Club, the club, stolen from the driveway in March. According to the Westminster Police Department, the club eventually reunited with Kohler.
Aspeitia confirmed that it is investigating Acosta about Clubber's kidnapping.
Anyone requesting information about this case is requested to contact police investigation expert S. Guzman at (714) 245-8416 or sguzman@santa-ana.org.
