Man Arrested After Wife Turns Him In For Abuse of the Family Cat

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By Karen Harrison Binette

A POS Florida man was arrested on Tuesday after his wife alerted Animal Control to his abuse of the family cat.

Port St. Lucie resident James Fiengo was arrested on an outstanding warrant for animal cruelty. Police say he beat and injured Joey the cat on multiple occasions.

Fiengo’s wife contacted Port St. Lucie Animal Control officers on February 22 to report that her husband was hurting Joey. Two short videos shot on a daughter’s phone support the allegation of abuse and the charges that followed.

On video, Fiengo holds Joey in a hurtful manner as the cat makes distressed sounds. He squeezes the cat’s head, twists and pulls his ear, then, finally holds him upside down and whacks him in the head before letting him go.

Joey was examined by a vet, and was found to have cartilage damage to his right ear according to Port St. Lucie police officer Master Sergeant Frank Sabol. An xray showed trauma to his tail.

What makes the abuse videos truly sickening, even beyond the mistreatment of the cat, is the casual nature of the abuse and the apparent complicity of the daughter shooting the video on her phone. The girl seems completely unaffected by the cat’s pain and mistreatment. We do not know if she is shooting the videos for fun or to entrap her father. In the first clip, Joey is interrogated over whether he shit on the floor as he is being hurt. In each of the two short clips Fiengo senior asks the girl “Can I let him go?” In the second, the kid responds, “Nah” in a very offhand manner.

A commenter on a discussion thread on a local version of this story listed James Fiengo’s address  as 4501 SW Floral St. in Port Saint Lucie.

We have no further information on the case against Fiengo at this time.

Joey and the x-ray image of his tail.

 

 

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7 thoughts on “Man Arrested After Wife Turns Him In For Abuse of the Family Cat”

  1. Please take the videos down. It’s disturbing enough to read about the abuse but having the option to view the videos is even more disturbing. I think as animal lovers (especially cats), we don’t want to see these kinds of things…..just my opinion.

    My other opinion, this man and his son should spend a good amount of time in jail as well as to be tortured the same way the defenseless cat was. Bravo and high 5s to his wife for filing the report.

  2. Please take down the videos… it is QUITE enough to tell the story with still-frame images. Leaving the vids is like putting out toddlers for pedophiles. No good can come of it. This “man” AND his son should be made to know that their actions are not necessary, warranted, or GOOD!

  3. The child may have been playing along — he likely abuses the human family members, too. It is the child who turned in the video, so I doubt complicity.

    And just FYI,this ahole has a Facebook page. I hope everyone is safe from this monster.

  4. Joey the cat looks too cute – would love to take him in my arms. I cannot forget the cat’s pleading cry as the fatso pinned him down with his right hand. Fiengo the Fiend – is a demon!

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