Man Killed 'Dozens' Of Cats In OC: Prosecutors

SANTA ANA, CA — A 45-year-old man accused of killing dozens of cats in an Orange County neighborhood 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, of Santa Ana, 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, court records show.

Acosta was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.

Police received multiple calls over the past several weeks about pet cats being snatched and harmed, according to Officer Natalie Garcia of the Santa Ana Police Department.

When Acosta was arrested, several residents pointed to him as the suspect, she said.

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.

City News Service contributed to this report.