An Orange County man who police believe killed more than a dozen neighborhood cats after luring them to his property was arrested Wednesday, according to authorities.
Over several weeks, the Santa Ana Police Department has received multiple reports of suspected animal abuse and missing cats.
Alejandro Oliveros Acosta, 45, of Santa Ana was arrested Wednesday and booked at the Santa Ana City Jail on felony charges related to animal cruelty, authorities said.
Yessenia Aspeitia, a media relations coordinator for the Santa Ana Police Department, said officials couldn’t provide the exact number of cats the suspect is believed to have harmed, but it is over a dozen.
Authorities allege Acosta was positively identified by several victims and witnesses as the man who lured their cats away from their homes.
Officers from the Santa Ana and Westminster police departments, along with Santa Ana’s Animal Control Division, searched Acosta’s home in the 2300 block of West Wilshire Avenue on Wednesday morning and took him into custody. Aspeitia said the department could not provide any additional information about evidence collected from the home.
Investigators are currently assembling a timeline of the alleged incidents, Aspeitia said. Officials are combing local social media groups for accounts of stolen or missing cats to incorporate alongside formal reports made to the department over the course of several weeks.
Local cat owners in recent weeks have shared photos on social media of their missing cats and home security footage showing a man luring them away from their homes.
Among them was Eva Corlew of Westminster, who posted that her 10-month-old Bengal Lynx cat, Clubber, was stolen from her driveway in March. Clubber was eventually reunited with Corlew, according to the Westminster Police Department.
Aspeitia confirmed Acosta is being investigated regarding Clubber’s abduction.
Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to contact Police Investigative Specialist S. Guzman at (714) 245-8416 or SGuzman@santa-ana.org.
