BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) – A homeless was arrested and charged with animal cruelty and burglary after deputies said he beat two cats to death inside a vacant Panama City home.
According to the arrest report, Robert Alderman broke into a home on Everett Avenue in Springfield when he encountered the cats. Deputies said Alderman told them the cats were mean, so he beat them to death with a curtain rod and air conditioning vent.
In the report, deputies said Alderman used to live at the home when it was Rightway Ministries and was looking for some clothes when he broke into the home on Sunday.
Deputies also wrote the home has been vacant since Hurricane Michael. The next door neighbor, who is the caretaker for the property, had rescued the cats and put them in the home. She has fed and cared for them for about two weeks.
In the report, deputies said the caretaker first noticed Alderman at the home Sunday morning and told him to leave. When she noticed him again in the afternoon, she went inside the home and found the cats had been killed.
A judge set Alderman’s bail at $115,000 during Monday’s bond hearing.
