A Cat Was Adopted, Then Abused; Plunged Repeatedly Into The Atlantic Ocean

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The black-and-white cat shivered as it walked slowly along the Midtown Beach seawall.

Mary Adam de Villiers almost couldn’t believe it: Could this be Ace, the same cat she hoped to find in the middle of the night, with just a very bright flashlight, a towel, some cat food and a nearby police officer’s rough estimates to guide her?

The same cat that Palm Beach Police said just two days earlier had been roughly gripped by his back, plunged repeatedly into the Atlantic Ocean and then thrown from the sidewalk over the seawall onto the beach — less than two weeks after being adopted?

She called his name, “Ace!” He turned around. The flashlight’s beam caught his eyes and filled them with white light.

Yes. It was him.

Adam de Villiers is one of dozens of people who expressed concern on social media about Ace and how he came to be in the hands of the 24-year-old West Palm Beach man who Palm Beach Police said terrorized him by dunking the cat into the ocean over and over again on Aug. 11.

On Facebook, Ace’s supporters have questioned how a man who was once involuntarily institutionalized could adopt a pet from one of the leading animal rescue organizations in Palm Beach County.

But supporters of open adoption policies say background checks and home visits only do so much to prevent abuse and neglect, arguing that more restrictive policies may deter some people looking to adopt pets, while relying on background checks that may not capture everything about a person.

The question remains: Could anything have prevented what happened to Ace?

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The man who adopted Ace from Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League shared the news on his Facebook profile in an Aug. 4 post that has been widely spread by Ace’s supporters: “Got a cat, they call him Ace. From five six ace,” the man wrote, referencing a local nickname for Palm Beach County's 561 area code. "A staff favorite and a favorite of the kids at summer camp. He’s an alright cat to me. Currently getting used to my back room.”

A photo of Ace curled up in a cushy cream-colored bed was accompanied by two other images: a child's drawing of Ace, surrounded by handwritten notes about the cat's personality, and three pink hearts; and Ace's shelter notes, which included his intake date of June 5 and his weight, 10.63 pounds.


One week after making that Facebook post, the man would be arrested after the incident on Midtown Beach, where witnesses told police that the man stopped every 60 feet or so to dunk Ace into the water, according to court documents.

It was just before 7 p.m. Aug. 11 when police were called to the beach and an officer found the man gripping Ace by his back. The officer in an arrest report noted that he could see Ace was "under duress," in pain and suffering.

The man yelled at the officer, saying, "The world is going to hell, everybody is stupid," the arrest report said.

When the officer told the man he would be arrested, the man gripped Ace by his back and neck, shouted, "Does anybody want a cat?" and tossed Ace about 10 feet over the seawall into the vegetation there, the report said.

Ace hit the ground and ran.

According to court records, the man had in 2021 been involuntarily institutionalized under the state law known as the Baker Act. But the man appealed the state's use of the Baker Act in his case, and in 2022, the Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed the circuit court’s order to grant a petition to involuntarily commit the man to inpatient treatment, saying that in the man's case, the state failed to show that the man met the criteria for involuntary placement, court records show.

Following his Aug. 11 arrest, the man was arrested two days later and charged with misdemeanor battery after West Palm Beach Police said he attacked and beat another patient at the NeuroBehavioral Hospital on 45th Street. He had been released Aug. 12 on a $5,000 bond, jail records show. As of Aug. 30, he is back at the Palm Beach County Jail and being held on $10,000 bail.

Continue reading

A cat was adopted, then abused, Palm Beach Police say. Some call for background checks.

Should background checks be required for animals to be adopted? Key adoption groups say doing so slows the process of finding homes for pets.

www.palmbeachpost.com

 

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I would adopt him in a heartbeat.

 

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CASE NUMBER: 50-2024-CF-006770-AXXX-MB

CASE STYLE: KOGEL, JOHN WESLEY

Charge: CRUELTY TO ANIMALS

Breakdown of the Sentence

• Jail (County Jail: 130 Days): As part of his sentence, the judge imposed a 130-day sentence in the Palm Beach County Jail.
• Credit (130 Days): This represents "credit for time served." Because he had been held in jail since his August 2024 arrest up until his December 20, 2024 plea date (roughly four and a half months), the 130 days he already spent in custody fully satisfied his jail sentence, allowing him to be released onto probation.
• Probation (5 Years): Following his release, he was placed on 5 years of supervised probation (running through December 2029) under the "withhold of adjudication" mentioned in the previous entry.

Ace found his furever family.