A South Charleston man who had allegedly mutilated a cat and injured two others was arrested Thursday afternoon.
Wayne Nelson Mallory, 37, of Thomas Avenue in South Charleston, is charged with three misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty.
On Monday, neighbors called 911, and a responding Kanawha County sheriff's deputy saw a dead cat in the front yard of Mallory's home. The deputy made a referral to a humane officer, according to a criminal complaint filed in Kanawha County Magistrate Court.
On Tuesday, a neighbor brought three cats to the Kanawha-Charleston Humane Association. One was unharmed. The neighbor told them her husband had seen Mallory mutilate and assault the cats.
One had been stabbed in the head and one had "injuries consistent with a person with surgical precision," according to the complaint.
Two humane officers went to the home and found a mutilated cat on Mallory's porch. After obtaining a search warrant, humane officers and sheriff's deputies searched the property on Tuesday night and found various cat body parts from a disemboweled cat.
In a written statement, a neighbor said he saw Mallory throwing cats onto the ground, stomping on a cat, and pacing around the yard. After the police left Monday night, they saw him on his front porch "holding something up in the air with his left hand stabbing and ripping it with the knife, as if it was a piece of material or a T-shirt," according to the complaint.
Jessie Shafer, spokeswoman for the humane association, said the dead cat seen Monday and the mutilated cat found Tuesday were the same cat.
The humane association's staff veterinarian, Jamie Totten, found that the injuries were caused by a human, according to the complaint.
A news release from the Kanawha-Charleston Humane Association Thursday said that the cats had been "stabbed, stomped and/or skinned." Four cats were seized, three living and one dead.
Shafer said the two injured, living cats were being cared for by KCHA's medical team and are expected to make full recoveries.
"This is the most disturbing case of animal abuse our investigators have ever seen," Chelsea Staley, executive director, said in a statement. "To think someone in our community is capable of such violence toward animals is unsettling. Our team is committed to ending animal cruelty, and we're hopeful this investigation spared the lives of countless future animal victims."
If convicted, Mallory could spend up to 18 months in jail. He faces up to six months in jail on each charge and/or a fine of $300 to $1,000. He said during the arraignment that he wanted a court-appointed attorney to represent him. Bail was set at $15,000 cash only.
As a condition of bail, he is not permitted to own any animals.
Kanawha County Sheriff's Office assisted in the investigation.
To contribute to the humane association, go to www.adoptcharleston.com/give.
Reach staff writer Erin Beck at 304-348-5163, erin.beck@wvgazettemail.com, Facebook.com/erinbeckwv, or @erinbeckwv on Twitter.