Man who killed cat with blow darts pleads guilty

An Indianapolis man accused last year of killing a cat by striking it with several blow darts pleaded guilty Thursday in Marion Superior Court.

Jeremiah Long, 23, was arrested in September 2014 after the owner of Tippy the cat said she found her cat with at least 10 4-inch metal darts sticking out of his colon, back and genitals.

According to court documents, Long told police he didn’t call authorities after the incident because “it was a cat and I did not think it was important.” Tippy was put down at the Airport Animal Emergency Center because of fatal septic infections he would have received.

When an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer talked to Long at his home in the 100 block of Kansas Street, he said he shot the cat "because it was fighting with my cat," notes court documents. An IMPD detective wrote that he saw a black cat lying in Long’s living room that “did not appear to be injured in any way.”

Long was originally charged with torturing or mutilating an animal and killing a domestic animal, both level six felonies punishable by up to two years in prison. He also was charged with cruelty to an animal, a Class A misdemeanor.

Court officials on Thursday said Long pleaded guilty to the first felony count, but that it was reduced to a misdemeanor by discretion of the court over the state's objection. Long was ordered to serve 363 days on home detention through community corrections. He also was ordered to pay $422 in restitution to Tippy’s owner, according to court records.

Long is not allowed to own or care for any new animals during his sentence. According to court records, the two dogs and one cat of Long’s live-in girlfriend are allowed to remain in the home, but will be subject to inspection by authorities.

That condition holds a caveat, however. "The judge was clear that if Long and his girlfriend break up, he is not to retain the pets," said Peg McLeish, spokeswoman at the Marion County Prosecutor's Office

Call Star reporter Jill Disis at (317) 444-6137. Follow her on Twitter: @jdisis.