West Jordan man arrested, accused of punching kitten multiple times

A West Jordan man was arrested Thursday after police say he punched a kitten multiple times, causing injuries that required the animal to be euthanized.

A West Jordan man was arrested Thursday after police say he punched a kitten multiple times, causing injuries that required the animal to be euthanized. (Steve Griffin, Deseret News)


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WEST JORDAN — A West Jordan man has been arrested and accused of punching a kitten multiple times, causing severe injuries that required the animal to be euthanized.

Edgar Eduardo Soto, 25, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Thursday for investigation of torture of a companion animal.

On Oct. 6, Soto was alone with a woman's long-haired kitten named "Marge," when he called the woman to say "something had happened," according to a police booking affidavit.

"(Soto) said that he had given Marge a bath, slipped and fell, injuring the kitten," the affidavit states. Soto took the kitten to a veterinarian, but "very little treatment was provided because of funding."

The next day, an animal control officer was called and found Marge "to be in an extreme amount of pain and was suffering. The kitten was humanely euthanized due to the extent of the injuries because of a grim prognosis at the advisement of a veterinarian," the arrest report says.

A necropsy "found grossly severe hemorrhage of the brain" and other injuries, according to investigators.

Soto was interviewed by police on Thursday and admitted to "placing a blanket over the companion animal, Marge, and striking her three to four times with his fist," the affidavit alleges.

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Pat Reavy interned with KSL NewsRadio in 1989 and has been a full-time journalist for either KSL NewsRadio, Deseret News or KSL.com since 1991. For the past 25 years, he has worked primarily the cops and courts beat.

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