Just hours after Mission Viejo Animal Services announced they were searching for a man seen tossing an injured cat into a dumpster, authorities confirmed on Wednesday that a suspect had been arrested.
The cat’s owner reported that her roommate was the individual seen in the video footage.
“Thanks to social media, the cat’s owner came forward and identified the man as her roommate. After conducting an investigation, we found enough evidence to establish probable cause that the suspect violated animal cruelty laws,” Mission Viejo Animal Services Supervisor Kyle Werner stated in a release.
On Tuesday, Animal Services received a report about a cat found “suffering from obvious trauma.” Surveillance footage from a nearby area revealed a light blue or gray Volkswagen Tiguan pulling up behind a row of businesses, parking near a dumpster at around 7:20 p.m. The video then shows a man exiting the vehicle with a white garbage bag, which he discards into the dumpster near Cabot and La Paz Road in Laguna Hills.
The injured cat, later named Willow by MVAS staff, was discovered nearly 15 hours later, just before the scheduled dumpster collection.
Willow is currently receiving treatment for her severe injuries at an animal hospital but is expected to recover, according to MVAS officials.
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