A Bronx man was arrested Thursday after posting videos online showing him torturing a cat to death as part of a bizarre occult ritual he planned to repeat on All Halllows’ Eve, a law enforcement source told the Daily News.
David Mosley is charged with criminal mischief and aggravated cruelty to animals for causing an injury to a cat that led to its death, cops said.
He’s also accused of spray-painting and engraving the walls of his Bedford Park apartment where he allegedly killed the cat after midnight on Oct. 17.
Footage of the alleged torture that Mosely, 26, posted to his now-deleted Instagram account, @churchofububal, earlier this month has been preserved by numerous animal-rights groups and advocates in online postings. Pictures show a dead cat lying in a circle drawn on a wooden floor and surrounded by lit candles, arcane symbols and blood.
Local veterinarians and animal-rights groups shared Mosley’s posts online in an effort to prevent the suspect from adopting other animals after he posted a video vowing to reenact the slaughter on Halloween, according to the director of a local dog rescue.
“He’s talking about how he wants to charge money for people to watch him live on Halloween ritualistically torture and kill a cat,” said the director of Canine Protection League, who gave her name as Bunny. “He’s saying Oct. 31 is going to be live for members only. He wants to charge admission for his next video. People didn’t believe him when he said he would slaughter the first cat. Now he’s saying, ‘You know I’m for real.’”
Bunny said a Bronx-based veterinarian contacted her organization about Mosley.
“The noises the cat made were really horrendous and scary,” said Bunny. “[The veterinarian] wrote to a bunch of rescues to tell us to be on the alert for this guy and not adopt any animals to him.”
Mosley’s arraignment was pending in Bronx Criminal Court Thursday.
With Thomas Tracy