On March 7, Atticus Robert, a 34-year-old resident of Pittston Lane in Palm Coast, was arrested on a third-degree felony charge of false imprisonment following a heated argument with his live-in girlfriend of three years. On Tuesday, Robert was re-arrested, this time in DeSoto County, and charged with aggravated animal cruelty over the death of his girlfriend’s cat.
During the March argument the girlfriend had noticed a scratch on Robert’s face. It looked like a scratch from a cat claw. Robert told her that London, one of her cats, had scratched him that morning, when she was away from the house.
The woman found London in the laundry room, lying on the floor, with a bloody paw and in breathing distress, according to Robert’s arrest report. She took the cat and prepared to drive to a veterinary hospital. Even as she did so, Robert attempted to block her way, as surveillance footage from the house showed. He stood behind her car, his arms spread out. The woman managed to drive out.
By the time she got to Flagler Animal Hospital, London was dead. A visual examination and an X-ray of the cat displayed damage to the front right paw, lacerations on the tongue and nose, and two fractured ribs. A necropsy was to follow.
When a Flagler County Sheriff’s deputy asked Robert about the scratch, he said London had scratched him, so he put her down. He said he may have “accidentally” stepped on her paw and yelled at her. The cat, he said, then ran into the laundry room. He admitted to preventing his girlfriend from leaving the room she uses as her office in the house, at least temporarily, and again standing behind her car, which led to the original charge.
He was arrested on that charge and released on March 10, on $5,000 bond and with a no-contact order regarding his former girlfriend. (A family member posted bond for him.) The investigation into the possibility of animal cruelty continued. The necropsy–an autopsy for animals–determined that the cat had died from collapsed lungs as a result of blunt force trauma, according to a sheriff’s release. A warrant was issued for his arrest on the cruelty charge, which is also a third-degree felony.
“If you seriously hurt or kill an innocent animal that cannot defend itself, we will find you and put you” in jail, Sheriff Rick Staly said in the release.
The victim had told deputies that she’d been having ongoing issues with Robert over his use or abuse of his prescribed Adderrall, a stimulant usually prescribed for Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, among other disorders. The two had argued over seeking additional medical resources, according to the arrest report.
Keep Flagler Beautiful says
Lowlife scumbag. The coward is already preparing his excuses: the cat scratched him, he takes a prescription drug, etc. The necropsy showed the poor cat died due to collapsed lungs from blunt-force trauma. That says it all.
FlaPharmTech says
And lorazepam is bad? Jail him on animal cruelty resulting in death of a domestic cat. My patience these days is very, very thin for the entitled POS class, starting with the orange POS. Convict, impeach.
Joanne C says
Despicable. I sure hope the girlfriend has shown him the door.
Jill says
Maybe diaper don will pardon him like the insurrectionists!!!!
Keep Flagler Beautiful says
Jill: That’s a childish comment and detracts from the fact that a serious, violent crime was perpetrated against an innocent victim.