Beechview Man Arrested After 5-Month Animal Cruelty Investigation

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- After a 5-month long investigation, Pittsburgh Police have arrested a Beechview man on four counts of animal cruelty after at least three of his neighbor's cats turned up dead.

Daniel T. Smith was taken into custody Monday night. When asked about the allegations, Smith told KDKA's Kym Gable, "I just want to thank you guys for taking time out of your day to come visit me. That's all."

Cindy Matera lives next door to Smith on Realty Avenue in Beechview. In July, she found two of her cats dead in her own trash cans. Witnesses told police they saw Smith put them there and admit to killing them. Matera once had 11 felines, all legally documented by Animal Friends as a sanctioned colony. Now, there are only three left. Several others are still missing.

After the two were found discarded in the trash, one additional cat was found suffering from the apparent effects of poisoning. A crime lab analysis turned up evidence of mothballs in the cats' stomachs.

"They did die a horrible death," said Matera. "They said there were pieces of mothballs in there, so that's when they knew that's what happened."

"They don't deserve to suffer," said Officer Christine Luffey. "If people are having problems with animals in their neighborhood, do the right thing. I don't want them taking matters into their own hands or this is where you'll end up. You end up being arrested."

In the criminal complaint obtained by KDKA, Smith made the following statements to police: "The cats are beyond a complete nuisance ... I'm in the realms of my legal parameters ... Feral cats don't belong to anyone ... They have no rights and no one can prove I killed the cats."

Join The Conversation On The KDKA Facebook Page
Stay Up To Date, Follow KDKA On Twitter