{"id":366604,"date":"2026-08-09T02:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T02:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/366604\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T02:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T02:48:12","slug":"florida-man-accused-of-killing-kittens-as-teen-daughters-punishment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/366604\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida man accused of killing kittens as teen daughter’s punishment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n

A Florida<\/a> father was arrested this week for allegedly killing the family’s kittens in front of his teenage daughter as a form of punishment, authorities said.<\/p>\n

Bodycam video released by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office shows deputies responding to a home in Pine Manor after receiving a report that a man was attempting to drown and strike a two-month-old kitten named Luna.<\/p>\n

David Charette Jr., 48, was arrested and charged with aggravated animal cruelty<\/a> after authorities accused him of killing two kittens and injuring a third.<\/p>\n

Witnesses told deputies that Charette allegedly abused and killed the family’s kittens in front of his teenage daughter as a form of punishment when she “acted up.”<\/p>\n

‘DEEPLY DISTURBING’ ANIMAL CRUELTY OPERATION INVOLVING BABY MONKEYS BUSTED BY ICE INVESTIGATION<\/a><\/p>\n

\"David <\/p>\n

Body camera footage shows David Charette Jr. speaking with Lee County deputies after authorities responded to allegations of animal cruelty at a home in Pine Manor, Fla. (Lee County Sheriff’s Office)<\/p>\n

Charette defended his treatment of Luna while speaking with deputies in the body camera video<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“The cat is in perfectly healthy condition,” Charette told deputies. “I have to give the cat a bath because it soils itself in the cage.”<\/p>\n

“It’s covered in crap and I have to give it a bath, and it cries, and she doesn’t like that,” he added.<\/p>\n

Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said the allegations involving Charette’s daughter made the case particularly disturbing.<\/p>\n

FLORIDA MAIL CARRIER ACCUSED OF SNATCHING PETS ON ROUTE, TRAPPING 100-PLUS CATS AND DOGS IN \u2018HOARDING\u2019 HOUSE<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A 2-month-old kitten named Luna was taken to a local animal hospital for treatment and is recovering after an alleged animal cruelty incident, authorities said. (Lee County Sheriff’s Office)<\/p>\n

“A daughter says that when she acts up or when she’s in trouble, her father kills her kittens. This is sickening to me,” Marceno told CBS affiliate WINK.<\/p>\n

Investigators<\/a> said they later learned Charette had allegedly killed two other kittens over the previous year.<\/p>\n

In June, Charette allegedly smothered a one-month-old kitten with a bleach-soaked rag, according to the sheriff’s office.<\/p>\n

In a separate incident, investigators said Charette allegedly killed a three-month-old kitten with a blow-dryer.<\/p>\n

\"David <\/p>\n

David Charette Jr., 48, was arrested and charged with aggravated animal cruelty after authorities accused him of killing two kittens and injuring a third. (Lee County Sheriff’s Office)<\/p>\n

Authorities said both kittens had been buried in the backyard, but investigators recovered only one during a search of the property.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n

Luna was taken to a local animal hospital for treatment and is recovering, according to the sheriff’s office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! A Florida father was arrested this week for allegedly killing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7106,28,30,29,2965,7107,628],"class_list":["post-366604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-crime-world","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-pets","tag-police-and-law-enforcement","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}