A Florida man has been arrested after authorities accused him of committing animal cruelty in front of his teenage daughter. The incident occurred in Pine Manor, where David Charette Jr., aged 48, allegedly killed two kittens and injured another as a form of punishment.
According to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to reports of a man attempting to drown and harm a two-month-old kitten named Luna. Bodycam footage captured the response to the home and shows Charette speaking with deputies.
Charette defended his actions, telling deputies that he was bathing Luna because she had soiled herself in her cage. He insisted that the kitten was in good health.
‘The cat is in perfectly healthy condition,’ Charette told deputies. ‘I have to give the cat a bath because it soils itself in the cage.’
Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno described the situation as especially distressing due to the involvement of Charette’s daughter, who alleged that her father punished her by harming her kittens.
The investigation revealed that Charette allegedly killed two other kittens in past incidents. One month-old kitten was reportedly smothered with a bleach-soaked rag in June, while another was allegedly killed with a blow-dryer. Authorities found evidence to support these claims, recovering one of the kittens from the backyard.
Luna, the two-month-old kitten, was taken to a local animal hospital where she is recovering from the incident.