Edwin Sanabia
An Atlantic City man accused of torturing and killing several cats will stay in jail.
Edwin Sanabia, 26, faces 13 charges, including allegations that he used tuna to lure cats into his Maryland Avenue apartment, killed them and then threw their bodies into a dumpster.
He also was accused of torturing cat inside a small shelter a neighbor set up for strays, using sticks and attempting to kill them on multiple occasions, according to the affidavit of probable cause obtained by BreakingAC.
Another witness also captured videos of some of the alleged acts, including Sanabia holding one cat “off the ground by the throat forcefully enough to make it writhe in pain,” Humane Law Enforcement Officer Matthew Schmidt wrote in the report.
Another video shows him “slapping (the cat) with extreme force, causing it to fall to the ground” and then Sanabia is seen “picking up its limp body by the tail,” the affidavit continues.
Schmidt was investigating the allegations when Sanabia wound up getting arrested in another case.
Police were called to the Back Maryland neighborhood June 17, for a dispute that involved a man with a knife.
That man was Sanabia, according to the charges, that claim he pulled the knife on a 16-year-old neighbor and tried to stab the teen after being confronted for throwing an egg at the door where the teen and his mother live.
Sanabia then ran back inside his apartment, where he exposed himself to the teen outside, the affidavit in that case claims.
After several hours, SWAT went into the home, but he was not there. He was arrested after returning the next day.
He is charged with third-degree aggravated assault, along with weapons offenses in that case, which led to a judge ordering him to stay in jail.
Schmidt then charged Sanabia with 14 counts last week in the cat case.
Sanabia appeared in court via video Monday for a detention hearing, where he reacted surprised as the judge detailed the charges against him.
Edwin Sanabia reacts at his detention hearing to the judge reading the allegations that he lured and killed cats.Sanabia’s public defender explained that her client consented to detention since he already was being detained in the other case.
“Regardless of the aggravated assault, I probably would have detained under the facts anyway,” Judge Joseph Levin said after ordering Sanabia held. “I wanted to make that clear for the record in case the other case is dismissed.”
PETA responded to the case against Sanabia last week, by warning people to keep their cats indoors.
“Outdoor cats don’t go missing by themselves,” a video spot featuring “It” actor Jaeden Martell warns, showing characters reaching for a can of gasoline, a golf club, poison and a shotgun with an ominous, “Here, kitty, kitty.”
