Woman Arrested In South Gate After Allegedly Stealing, Killing Kitten
SOUTH GATE (CBSLA) — A woman was arrested Tuesday after being caught on surveillance video carrying off a kitten who was later found dead on a South Gate street.
Local residents posted fliers about the incident in the area and shared the video with authorities, including animal rights groups, in the hopes the woman could be identified and found.
According to officials, someone spotted the woman and called the police on Tuesday evening. She was found with another kitten.
In a Facebook post, Cindy Esquivel posted images of the woman with orange hair walking onto a porch.
Security video shows the woman walking up to the porch carrying a bag, a sweatshirt and a face mask under her chin unlatching the gate to the porch. In another video from another angle, the woman fiddles with a Coca-Cola box before turning around with Esquivel's 6-week-old kitten in one arm and a cigarette in her mouth. At one point, the woman is seeing spraying the kitten -- known as Porch -- with bug spray.
"This person, I just don't understand how they can do something like that to a little innocent animal, it's scary," she said.
Porch's body was later found in the street, his body brutalized and jaw broken.
"I think if she can do that to a small animal, who knows, she can do it to another one," Esquival said. "Who knows what she's capable of."