Tragedy struck a Florida household this week, as a father faces grave accusations of using brutal tactics to discipline his teenage daughter. Allegedly, he killed the family’s kittens in a shocking display of punishment, according to local authorities.
Footage from body cameras, released by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, dramatically captures deputies racing to a Pine Manor residence. The urgent call they received detailed horrifying attempts by a man to drown and violently assault a two-month-old kitten, Luna.
The individual at the center of this heartbreaking narrative is 48-year-old David Charette Jr. He now faces severe legal consequences, charged with aggravated animal cruelty following accusations of killing two cats and injuring a third.
Eyewitnesses recounted to deputies that Charette reportedly carried out these appalling acts against the family’s kittens mere feet from his teenage daughter. Such cruelty was purportedly his depraved method of reprimanding her when she misbehaved.
The released body camera video paints a stark image of Charette Jr. in conversation with Lee County officers after they arrived to confront the grievous accusations of animal cruelty hovering over the Pine Manor scene. (Courtesy of Lee County Sheriff’s Office)
Charette defended his treatment of Luna while speaking with deputies in the body camera video.
“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.”
“It’s covered in crap and I have to give it a bath, and it cries, and she doesn’t like that,” he added.
Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said the allegations involving Charette’s daughter made the case particularly disturbing.
A 2-month-old kitten named Luna was taken to a local animal hospital for treatment and is recovering after an alleged animal cruelty incident, authorities said. (Lee County Sheriff’s Office)
“A daughter says that when she acts up or when she’s in trouble, her father kills her kittens. This is sickening to me,” Marceno told CBS affiliate WINK.
Investigators said they later learned Charette had allegedly killed two other kittens over the previous year.
In June, Charette allegedly smothered a one-month-old kitten with a bleach-soaked rag, according to the sheriff’s office.
In a separate incident, investigators said Charette allegedly killed a three-month-old kitten with a blow-dryer.
David Charette Jr., 48, was arrested and charged with aggravated animal cruelty after authorities accused him of killing two kittens and injuring a third. (Lee County Sheriff’s Office)
Authorities said both kittens had been buried in the backyard, but investigators recovered only one during a search of the property.
Luna was taken to a local animal hospital for treatment and is recovering, according to the sheriff’s office.