A Florida father has been arrested and charged with aggravated animal cruelty for allegedly killing two family kittens and injuring a third as a form of punishment for his teenage daughter, according to authorities.
Deputies with the Lee County Sheriff's Office responded to a home in Pine Manor after receiving a report of a man attempting to drown and strike a two-month-old kitten. Bodycam video released by the sheriff's office shows deputies confronting David Charette Jr., 48.
Witnesses told deputies that Charette allegedly abused and killed the kittens in front of his teenage daughter when she "acted up." Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno described the allegations as particularly disturbing, stating, "A daughter says that when she acts up or when she's in trouble, her father kills her kittens. This is sickening to me."
During the confrontation captured on body camera, Charette defended his treatment of the kitten, identified as Luna, telling deputies the animal was "in perfectly healthy condition" and needed a bath because it "soils itself in the cage."
Investigators later learned that Charette had allegedly killed two other kittens over the previous year. According to the sheriff's office, in June, Charette allegedly smothered a one-month-old kitten with a bleach-soaked rag. In a separate incident, investigators said he allegedly killed a three-month-old kitten using a blow-dryer.
Authorities said both kittens had been buried in the backyard, but investigators were only able to recover one during a search of the property.
Luna, the kitten involved in the recent incident, was taken to a local animal hospital for treatment and is recovering, the sheriff's office reported.