Santa Ana man charged with cat killings in O.C.

A 45-year-old Santa Ana man accused of killing dozens of cats in Santa Ana and snatching an expensive Bengal Lynx cat from Westminster has been charged with animal cruelty and is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday.

Alejandro Oliveros Acosta was charged Monday with two counts of animal cruelty and a count of grand theft of a pet, all felonies, as well as a misdemeanor count of possession of methamphetamine, according to the criminal complaint. Acosta was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.

Police have fielded multiple calls over the past several weeks about pet cats being snatched and harmed, Officer Natalie Garcia of the Santa Ana

Police Department said when Acosta was arrested last month. Several residents pointed to Acosta as a suspect, she added.

Investigators searched his home in the 2300 block of West Wilshire Avenue, where they found evidence of ``dozens’’ of dead cats, Garcia said. The number of pets killed was too numerous to estimate more specifically, she said.

Acosta is also suspected of abducting a Bengal Lynx cat, named Clubber, from the feline’s home in Westminster last month, Garcia said. That cat was reported stolen March 19.

The owner saw the suspect lure Clubber — possibly with food — before he snatched the feline and fled in a white pickup truck, police said.