Southern California man charged for allegedly luring, kidnapping and beating cats to death
A Southern California man accused of stealing a Bengal Lynx cat and beating other felines to death will be arraigned on Wednesday and could face up to four years and four months in jail, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.
The suspect, 46-year-old Alejandro Oliveros Acosta, was arrested on April 24 after allegedly "luring cats with cat food in order to kidnap the animals to stomp them and beat them to death," the district attorney's office said in a press release on Tuesday.
Oliveros Acosta was also accused of having methamphetamine on him when he was booked into jail, officials said.
Acosta has been charged with two counts of felony animal cruelty, one misdemeanor count of possession of a controlled substance and one felony count of theft of a companion animal after stealing a Bengal Lynx cat from a Westminster home in March, officials said.
Between November 2024 and April 2025, there were seven reports of dead and injured cats to Santa Ana Animal Control, including "animals suffering from broken backs and bloody faces," prosecutors said.
On March 21, a Westminster woman came home to find her Bengal Lynx cat, named Clubber, was missing, the district attorney's office said. Officials looked through video surveillance and found the suspect — later identified as Oliveros Acosta — with "what appeared to be a can of food, luring the cat before grabbing the animal and driving away in a white Toyota Tacoma pickup truck," prosecutors said.
Clubber was returned to his owners "after the theft was publicized," however, the suspect was unidentified at the time, prosecutors said.
On April 3, a Santa Ana man was leaving his home when he saw his neighbor, Oliveros Acosta, "pick up a cat over his head and slam it to the ground," officials said.
Two days later, animal control was called for reports of another cat "who was not moving," with video surveillance revealing Oliveros Acosta picking up the cat out of his truck, dropping it on the ground in order to "stomp on it with his foot," officials said.
After his arrest in April, Oliveros Acosta posted a $40,000 bail and was released before police finished their investigation and presented the case to the district attorney's office, officials said.
Prosecutors have asked for bail to be increased from the statutory $20,000 bail to $100,000 "given the danger Oliveros Acosta poses to public safety," officials said.
The investigation of the case remains ongoing and the district attorney's office said anyone with additional information should contact the Santa Ana and Westminster police departments to determine whether additional charges can be added.
It is unclear whether Oliveros Acosta has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
