Man accused of drowning 5 kittens in Ypsilanti Township pleads no contest to 2 charges
An Ypsilanti Township man accused of drowning 5 kittens in a bathtub at his home in May, pleaded no contest Wednesday afternoon to two misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty, authorities said.
Jerry Allan Hagerman, 55, entered the plea in 14A District Court and is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 29, said Matt Schaecher, supervisor of cruelty and rescue at the Humane Society of Huron Valley.
Each count is punishable by up to a year in jail.
Scheacher said one of Hagerman's neighbors at Lakeview Mobile Home Park called 911 about 9 p.m. May 31 after seeing Hagerman bury a number of kittens in a yard outside his home on Joan Circle. The neighbor reported that he believed Hagerman drowned the animals.
When deputies arrived, they found 5 dead kittens, Schaecher said. Investigators seized the kittens' mother, Cricket, who was not injured, Schaecher said.
Hagerman, who was heavily intoxicated, claimed it was an accident, Schaecher said, telling investigators that his kittens were in a box that was knocked over by a friend's dog into the bathtub.
Schaecher said Hagerman offered conflicting accounts of what happened. Initially, Hagerman said the animals drowned after he took a bath, Schaecher said. He later told investigators the animals drowned as he was preparing to take a bath, Schaecher said.
Hagerman surrendered Cricket, who has been adopted out in the Ann Arbor area, Schaecher said.
Hagerman could not be reached for comment this morning.
Lee Higgins covers crime and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached by phone at (734) 623-2527 and email at leehiggins@annarbor.com.
Comments
nickcarraweigh
Fri, Aug 5, 2011 : 6:09 p.m.
The moderator's terminal seems to be stuck on the fire-select full automatic button.
jns131
Fri, Aug 5, 2011 : 5:35 p.m.
Does not make sense. This guy gets 2 counts for drowning 5 kittens where as this guy from MSU kills 12 greyhound puppies and gets 14 counts slapped at him. I guess I don't fully understand how one gets off with a lighter sentence and yet gets lesser charge? I hope the judge sees the error and gives this guy the full montie. What is this world coming to I wonder?
WhyCan'tWeBeFriends
Fri, Aug 5, 2011 : 9:34 a.m.
Please support the Humane Society of Huron Valley and adopt all of your pets from there or other shelters if possible. A recent visit revealed a very clean and carefully run facility and their stats are admirable in terms of the "kill" rate - likely elderly or sick animals I would guess. Please spay or neuter your pets and plan to keep them for their entire natural lives!
Jim
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 7:37 p.m.
OK, this will likely not fare well, but.... If there are 72,000 cats killed each year in shelters, and someone has a cat that has kittens, and decides to kill them, one could argue that they are taking personal responsibility for their cat that had the kittens in the first place. Obviously, it would have been preferable for the pet cat not to have had the kittens in the first place, but unfortunately, this was not the case. You could argue that drowning is more painful than gassing them (or whatever they do at the shelters) but dead is dead. I don't fully understand the circumstances of this case, but in theory, this could be construed as a responsible action that saved resources of the local humane shelter.
jns131
Fri, Aug 5, 2011 : 5:38 p.m.
But didn't one guy get off killing his dog and said it was his property to dispose as he saw fit? Animals are technically property. Although killing an innocent does not sit well with me. Always remember this....they start off small.
bedrog
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 8:19 p.m.
ummm..the Humane Society folks typically don't work drunk...as i know from first hand. This alone sets your parallels widely awry. your post is correct only in that it is indeed not 'faring well' as you note at the outset.
Tesla
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 7:51 p.m.
If he was responsible (lol....please, I know the type) he would have had the adult cat fixed so it couldn't get pregnant.
lugemachine
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 6:24 p.m.
I'm assuming that Cricket was not adopted out of HSHV, as she would have been sterilized, correct?
justaposter
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 6:53 p.m.
She was sterilized by HSHV befor being adopted out, as all their animals are.
Deb Kern
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 6:53 p.m.
Cricket was not originally from the Humane Society of Huron Valley. Once she was in our care, she was spayed. She has been adopted.
bedrog
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 5:59 p.m.
Just a word of sympathy for the moderators on this thread ...you must feel like the guy in charlie chaplin's "Modern Times' trapped on that repetitive assembly line ( except yours is pushing the 'comment violated guidelines' button....... but this story/picture really do cry out for comments of questionable taste, however on target..
no flamers!
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 4:20 p.m.
Interesting comparison to the "big story" of yesterday regarding the 19 year-old kid that intentionally ran over 4 ducklings in a parking lot. Many posters yesterday were outraged that the kid got "only" 10 days and was able to plead to a felony, and claimed that he was a "rich kid" and that his parents' money bought him "special treatment" (what evidence was there? none.) and that if he were a poor kid from the "south side" of town he'd have gotten a stiffer sentence. Well now, lets's compare. This man was 55, intentionally drown 5 kittens (recognized as pets), was poor (lived in trailer park) and lived on the "south side" of town and got a misdemeanor. Boy vs. Man. 4 ducklings vs. 5 kittens. Instant death by car vs slow death by drowning. Rich vs poor. 19 vs 55 years old. Felony plea vs. misdemeanor charge. I suggest that this is useful reminder to not presume special treatment for some kid "rich enough" to drive a Hummer. (btw, the re-sale value on Hummers is so low that they are quite cheap to buy, so I never understood this leap in the first place)
lumberg48108
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 5:51 p.m.
@no flamers Save your breath cause this story will not resonate with the readers like the other one did. This is about a drunk-old coot and its not sexy enough nor does it offer enough context for the readers to judge (spoiled rich kid driving Hummer) etc. You think this story will have 100 comments? Please ... Jeez - some commenters think you are defending this kid when you are only attempting to point out hypocrisy -- some people dont get it.
Laurel
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 4:59 p.m.
I am curious how long you have been following this story since you seem to be defending the boy. A while ago when this initially happened, there was a video of the arresting officer approaching the boy right after he ran down the ducklings. He repeatedly lied to police and his arrogance, disrespect and lack of regret enraged and sickened many people in community. This took place 3 minutes from my home. I was at Kroger with my children when the police were arriving, not aware of what was taking place. The McDonalds where this happened shares parking lot space with Kroger. It was Before he ran down the yellow feathered ducklings, the manager of the McDonalds where this took place, tried to protect them from the taunting boy. There is no wonder why they're coming down on the younger boy harder. He did it for shock value and only thought of himself when he got in trouble. Wait for this sentencing. I bet this older fellow, though a lesser charge, will serve more time in the long run and will be better off. Drowning kittens as a 55 y/o is not very advanced for an animal sadist, starting as a boy taunting employees of a local establishment and members of the community by executing animal terrorism warrants the difference in the charge. And after the 10 day sentence is up, he will be turned back to us with minimal rehabilitation or therapy to deal with the real issues at hand, only to prove himself to be a further detriment to our society.