EUSTIS, Fla. — A Eustis woman was arrested on an aggravated animal cruelty charge after police said surveillance video showed her shaking a kitten off a towel and leaving the animal motionless on the ground.
Candie Roseann Pryce, 29, was arrested Saturday after she returned to the residence she shared with the kitten’s owner, according to an arrest affidavit. The kitten, named Pumpkin, had not been found when the affidavit was written.
Eustis Police Department responded to the residence on East Key Avenue Friday night after the facility’s manager reported that Pryce may have harmed the kitten. The manager showed an officer video of Pryce holding Pumpkin outside the back door while the kitten clung to a towel, the affidavit states.
In the video, Pryce shook the towel, then pried Pumpkin’s paws from it before shaking the towel again, causing the kitten to fall and hit her head on a concrete curb, police said. Pumpkin appeared unresponsive, and Pryce went back inside, leaving her on the ground. About two minutes later, Pryce returned with a bag and picked up the kitten, according to the affidavit.
Pryce told her roommates Pumpkin ran out of the residence and was missing. After the roommates confronted her, Pryce left with a black trash bag she said contained laundry, but one of the roommates told police she believed something heavier was in the bag, the affidavit states. Another roommate later found Pumpkin’s collar in Pryce’s purse, she told police.
When an officer spoke with Pryce Saturday, she said she had been giving Pumpkin a bath to remove fleas when the kitten bit and scratched her. Pryce told the officer she flung the kitten off her and choked her, but said Pumpkin was alive when she brought her back inside. Police said the video contradicted Pryce’s account.
Pryce was arrested for aggravated animal cruelty, and transported to the Lake County Jail, where she was released on $2,500 bond.
