Suspect killed cats at home for disabled, fed remains to his dogs

By Barrett J. Brunsman • April 15, 2010

GOSHEN TWP. - One of two men charged with animal cruelty in the death of at least seven cats told police that his boss at a home for mentally disabled people wanted him to get rid of strays there.

Police said at least four cats were trapped near the Mellon Ridge care center on Ohio 28 in Clermont County by Keegan L. Carney, 21.

After taking the cats to his family's Wayne Township farm, Carney allegedly shot them, skinned them for their fur and then fed the remains to his dogs, police said.

"About two months ago, my manager at Mellon Ridge said yes when I asked her if she still wanted me to get rid of the stray cats at work," Carney, an aide who oversees residents at the care center, said in a statement to Goshen police after being arrested April 6.

"I have a hobby of trying to make my own furs out of vermin hide," Carney said of why he skinned the cats.

Brenda Cain, manager of Mellon Ridge since it opened in 1994, said she had no idea the cats would be harmed. "I don't want them to be killed," she said. "It's absolutely the most bizarre thing I've ever heard of."

Carney approached her about the cats and told her he would take them to the farm, where they would be released to catch mice, Cain said.

"I was sick," Cain said when she learned from police what happened to the cats. "I couldn't even eat supper that night."

Carney, who has worked at the care center for nearly 1½ years, passed a criminal background check and has never caused problems, Cain said.

"He has never been an issue with any co-worker, (and) he's never had an issue with any resident," Cain said. He seemed to be "just the nicest guy in the world. You would never dream of him doing something like that."

Carney told police it wasn't the first time he had killed cats. "I have shot cats at home that I didn't want because they get on my nerves when they're fighting with each other, begging for food and other annoying things."

None of the cats Carney trapped at the care center belonged to residents, who are mentally disabled, said Capt. Bob Rose of the Goshen Township Police Department.

Rose said he spoke briefly with Cain about the incident, and there was no indication that residents had been ill treated by Carney.

"Our residents come first, and their safety comes first," Cain said. "We do the criminal background check with their fingerprints at the sheriff's department, we do reference checks, we do everything in our power. This is just something I don't think you could have predicted."

People sometimes abandon cats outside the care center, but she doesn't know why, Cain said. "They're dropping off three or four at a time," she said. "We just can't take care of all of them."

If cats continue to be abandoned, she will either call a county animal control officer or try to find a no-kill shelter to take them, Cain said.

James P. Combs II, 23, of Hamilton Township in Warren County also was charged with three counts of animal cruelty in the case, as well as three counts of discharging a gun near residential areas.

Combs "confessed to killing three cats on three separate occasions using a .22-caliber rifle," Rose wrote in a police report. "He also trapped cats and took them home to kill. He had purchased an aluminum T-ball bat to use to kill cats."

In a statement to police, Combs said: "I thought it would be helpful to get rid of pesky cats at the Goshen Kroger and Country Lake (Apartments on Ohio 28)."

He told police he put the carcasses of cats he shot at those two spots under parked cars so it would look like they had been run over.

Combs is to be arraigned April 22 in Municipal Court in Batavia Township. A date hasn't been scheduled for Carney, who faces four counts of animal cruelty.

From: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100415/NEWS010701/4160357/1055/NEWS/Police++Cat+killer+fed+remains+to+dogs