Carlos Perez (Cass County Sheriff’s Office)
A 23-year-old man in North Dakota was arrested over the weekend over an alleged domestic dispute with his girlfriend in which he struck her multiple times and tortured her pet cat to death in a horrific fashion, tossing the animal’s remains in a nearby dumpster and telling his girlfriend it would be “her next.”
Carlos Perez, of Fargo, North Dakota, was taken into custody on Sunday and charged with felony counts of domestic violence assault resulting in serious bodily injury, animal cruelty, and terrorizing an adult victim, as well as one count each of interfering with a known emergency call and domestic violence resulting in substantial bodily injury, court documents reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Court documents obtained by Fargo NBC affiliate KVLY-TV provided additional detail about what police said took place during the appalling dispute.
According to the report, officers with the Fargo Police Department responded on Sunday to an emergency call regarding a domestic dispute between Perez and his girlfriend, who was not identified in the report.
The girlfriend reportedly told police that the conflict began when Perez became angry with her for not returning home from work early enough because he needed to borrow her cellphone. Upset with his girlfriend not being home, Perez allegedly sent her a photo of him holding her cat over a lit burner atop her stove.
But that was only the beginning of what he allegedly did to the animal.
After burning the cat on the stove, Perez reportedly bashed the animal in the head with a speaker, causing the animal to start having seizures. Per the report, Perez began to choke the animal with his bare hands but was unable to kill the cat. He then burned one of the cat’s paws with a lighter before finally sticking the feline in the microwave and turning it on, ultimately killing it.
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After allegedly killing the cat, the girlfriend said Perez tossed her pet’s remains into a dumpster near the home and told her “that would happen to her next,” KVLY reported.
Perez is also accused of physically assaulting his girlfriend on Sunday, slapping her in the face, attempting to lock her in a closet, and breaking her cellphone when she tried to call 911. Police at the scene reportedly noted the victim had bruises on her eye, cheek, and arm.
The girlfriend also told police that Sunday was far from the only time Perez had intentionally injured her, specifically noting two instances in the past few months, KVLY reported. In one instance, he allegedly cut her with a kitchen knife, causing a laceration that required stitches. In another, he allegedly punched her in the face.
She reportedly said she did not report those instances because Perez had previously threatened to kill her and her family if she did so.
When police asked Perez how his girlfriend received her numerous injuries, he told investigators, “I was mad,” KVLY reported.
Court records show that Perez has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is currently being held in the Cass County Detention Center on $20,000 bond.
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