Valencia Man Sentenced For Duct-Taping Cat's Paws Together

LOS ANGELES  (CBSLA.com) — A Valencia man was sentenced Wednesday for duct-taping his cat's paws together, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced.

Deputy DA  Jeffrey Greenberg said Tyler Scott Vest, 23, was given one year in county jail. He was also sentenced to three years formal probation and ordered to complete 24 hours of animal-cruelty counseling.

The defendant and his girlfriend Kylie Stringer, 27, of Canyon Country both entered no-contest pleas Jan. 13, the date of their arraignment.

Vest and Stringer pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor count of cruelty to an animal and Vest also pleaded no contest to a felony count of possession of heroin.

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Stringer was sentenced March 2 to three years of informal probation and was ordered to complete a six-month drug treatment program, 15 days of Caltrans service and 24 hours of animal-cruelty counseling.

Both defendants are banned from owning, possessing or having direct contact with animals for five years.

They also had to forfeit their cat.

Both defendants were approached by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies after they were observed inside a vehicle parked near Sand Canyon and Soledad Canyon roads late at night Jan. 9. Deputies conducted a narcotics investigation and found heroin inside the vehicle, the prosecutor said.

Deputies also found  the cat inside a pet carrier. All four paws of the cat had been duct-taped and were further tied and bound together with additional duct tape, the DA added.