Joseph Harrison Parker, a resident from Mission Viejo, Calif., was charged with the felony of animal cruelty after allegedly throwing an injured cat into a dumpster. The Orange County District Attorney (OCDA) announced in a press release on March 17 that he pleaded not guilty to the felony as well as the “misdemeanor count of abandoning a domestic dog or cat.”
Mission Viejo Animal Services (MVAS) received a report on March 11 regarding an animal who was stated to have been suffering from “obvious trauma” after being found in a dumpster behind a shopping center near Cabot and La Paz Road in Laguna Hills, Calif. Surveillance footage of the crime showed a man parking and stepping out of a grey SUV before removing a white trash bag from the vehicle. The man proceeded to dump a cat out of the bag and into the dumpster before driving off. The cat, discovered the following day, sustained a broken jaw, concussion and extensive eye trauma.
Police arrested Parker on March 12, shortly after the city released a statement requesting public assistance in identifying the suspect in the footage and circulated posts on social media. MVAS officials stated that an individual — who was later identified as Olivia Chapman and the cat’s owner — contacted the department and identified both the cat as well as the suspect, Parker, in the footage. Chapman told CBS News that she and her family had been searching for their cat for days before the footage was released to the public.
“Through our social media, the cat owner came forward and identified the man was her roommate seen in the video, and we conducted an investigation and have probable cause that the suspect was in violation of animal cruelty,” MVAS Supervisor Kyle Werner said in the press release announcing Parker’s arrest.
The cat — whose name is BooBoo — is currently recovering from her extensive injuries; however, she may have sustained long-term damage. BooBoo will continue to receive treatment coordinated by MVAS and Dedicated Animal Welfare Group — an Orange County based nonprofit organization focused on providing care and rehoming abandoned animals — to hopefully be reunited with her owner.
OCDA Todd Spitzer spoke on the case in the March 17 press release.
“The abuse of any defenseless animal will not be tolerated and those who engage in violence against animals will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Spitzer said.
In a bail hearing held on March 14 — where Parker pleaded not guilty to both charges — Parker was denied release on his own recognizance, which would have released him from jail pretrial without bail. Parker’s bail was reduced from $20,000 to $2,000, to which he posted bail and now awaits trial. If convicted of charges, Parker faces a maximum sentence of three years in state prison, but would serve the time in the local jail instead in accordance with Penal Code 1170(h).
Makyla McLeod is a Staff Writer. She can be reached at msmcleod@uci.edu.
Edited by Logan Heine.