Florida Father Charged After Killing 2 Kittens to Punish Teenage Daughter

1 articles · Updated · Fox News · Aug 9

David Charette Jr., 48, was arrested in Lee County and charged with aggravated animal cruelty after deputies said he killed two family kittens and injured a third in front of his teenage daughter.
Witnesses told investigators Charette used the kittens as punishment when his daughter “acted up,” and bodycam video shows deputies responding to a report that he was trying to drown and strike a 2-month-old kitten named Luna.
Luna was taken to a local animal hospital and is recovering; Charette told deputies the kitten was “in perfectly healthy condition” and said he was only bathing it because it had soiled its cage.
Investigators said they later linked him to two earlier kitten deaths over the past year—one allegedly smothered with a bleach-soaked rag in June and another allegedly killed with a blow-dryer; deputies recovered one buried kitten from the backyard.