Centerville man allegedly threw cat into fire

PERRY -- A Houston County grand jury has indicted a Centerville man on one count of aggravated animal cruelty for allegedly throwing a cat into a fire.

The grand jury handed up the indictment on the felony charge last week against 50-year-old Leroy Eugene Rench.

The indictment accuses Rench of maliciously torturing a cat when he caused "severe physical pain by throwing it into a fire."

A witness to the Oct. 20 incident told Centerville police that Rench picked up the tan-colored cat, talked about how much he hated cats and carried it to the backyard of his Cambridge Drive residence where a fire was burning in a barrel, according to the arrest warrant.

He threw the cat into the fire, and it screamed, jumped out and ran. The witness told police he could smell the hair from the cat burning, the warrant said.

The cat's whiskers and paws were burned, according to the indictment.

To contact writer Becky Purser, call 256-9559, or find her on Twitter@becpurser.

This story was originally published April 11, 2016 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Centerville man allegedly threw cat into fire ."