A Bronx man accused of torturing a cat to death and then posting video of the twisted occult ritual online just days before Halloween pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges on Friday, officials said.
David Mosley, 27, pleaded guilty before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Laurence Busching to aggravated cruelty to animals for slaughtering the feline and then posting footage to social media showing its lifeless body surrounded by occult symbols, according to Bronx prosecutors.
Mosley’s supervised release was revoked after his guilty plea, and he was taken into custody Friday, prosecutors said. He is expected to be sentenced on Aug. 11 to two years in prison, which he’ll serve on Rikers Island.
Mosley was arrested after posting video and disturbing images last Oct. 22 to his now-deleted Instagram account, @churchofububal, showing a white-and-gray tabby cat lying in a circle drawn on a wooden floor, according to a criminal complaints. The cat had blood pouring from its mouth and was surrounded by arcane symbols scrawled on the walls, court documents show.
“You should have heard the bih [sic] squeal,” was written beneath the image, according to prosecutors.
Animal rights activists, including Curtis Sliwa, at right, are pictured protesting against alleged cat killer David Mosley outside Bronx Supreme Court on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Emma Seiwell / New York Daily News)
Mosley’s attorney, Paul London, said his client posted the video to social media looking for attention — but didn’t bargain for the outraged response from animal lovers that forced him to flee his Bronx apartment.
“I don’t get this kind of reaction to the horrible sex cases or the homicides or any other violent crime I’ve handled,” London said. “He doesn’t want this kind of attention. It was not on his bingo card that a reaction like this would follow.”
In a now-deleted, but still archived Oct. 27 YouTube livestream, Mosley reacted to the uproar over the footage he had posted five days earlier of the cat killing.
He ranted for roughly an hour about being doxed by stalkers, comparing himself to “Spider-Man,” boasting about saving children and musing about race relations, religious devotion and MrBeast, the world’s most popular YouTuber. He implied that the cat’s death was staged.
“He said, ‘Is it true, you were sacrificing the cats?’ You just read s–t on the internet,” Mosley mused, as he shuffled and fanned a deck of playing cards. “You can clearly see that was arranged. … If I did unalive that cat, where is the rest of the matter at, where is the rest of the s–t at, you feel me?… Do your homework on me and you can see, n—ers. I got mad pictures with dead cats. that just blew up.”
“Just a little necromancy,” added the wannabe rapper. “I got dead rats. … I got albino f—–g ladybugs.”
David Mosley was charged with criminal mischief and aggravated cruelty to animals for causing an injury to a cat that led to its death, cops said.
Mosley was arrested three days after that livestream after authorities searched his home.
Animal lovers, furious that Mosley was released without bail after his arrest and fearing he would receive a slap on the wrist for the cat’s torture, turned out in force at several of Mosley’s court appearances.
Advocates even posthumously gave a name to the cat Mosley is accused of killing: Mercy.
“We’re going to continue calling the DA, writing letters, petitions and not losing momentum,” PETA team action leader Rachel Ejsmont, 62, told the Daily News after a court hearing for Mosley’s case in January. “We have to stay on top of it and not give up. Mercy would not want us to give up on her.”
Rachel Ejsmont (pictured), PETA team action leader NYC, is pictured protesting against alleged cat killer David Mosley outside Bronx Supreme Court on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Emma Seiwell / New York Daily News)
Mosley’s case also drew the attention of Guardian Angel founder and 2025 Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa, who stood with animal lovers in demanding a stiff penalty in response to the the cat’s horrific death.
“We just have to be vigilant and continue to apply pressure,” Sliwa said. “There’s a lot of animal abuse cases that slip through the cracks.”