Add The California Post on Google A man accused of torturing a kitten to death in San Francisco was caught Thursday night in his home state of Nevada after fleeing California.
33-year-old William Ohlson, of Reno, had failed to appear for his scheduled arraignment on Monday.
Ohlson faced animal abuse charges after he allegedly carried a small kitten into an ATM vestibule in the 1800 block of Market Street at around 2 a.m. on July 1 and “violently tortured” the animal to death before leaving with its body.
He was released after his arrest due to a California Supreme Court ruling limiting pretrial detention largely to cases involving violence directed at people.
The alleged kitten torturer was arrested at gunpoint at a house in downtown Reno and held at Washoe County Detention Center on four charges relating to resisting an officer and failing to obey a court order.
Reno police had actually checked the house on July 17 but he was not there, the Reno Gazette Journal reported.
But the police got a tip Thursday that Ohlson had returned, with witnesses seeing him enter the residence.
Officers sped to the scene and established a perimeter around the house. They attempted to communicate via loudspeaker and then deployed a K-9.
Body cam footage of the first visit to the home show an officer using a battering ram to pop open the front door. The officers enter with guns raised and shouting commands. A few days later, officers are back at the home, waiting outside, with a dog searching the area for the suspect.
The man surrenders himself and is handcuffed into a police vehicle, the video showed.
Some onlookers ask the cops, “Did you find him?” followed with a “We love you. Thank you!” for capturing Ohlson.
The San Francisco kitten was not the only animal Ohlson allegedly tortured.
In 2020, Ohlson pleaded guilty to a charge of attempting to kill or torture a white kitten at a Walmart in Reno. His sentence was suspended in exchange for attending adult drug court.
A Reno animal group, the Biggest Little Cat Rescue, said earlier this month Ohlson adopted two kittens from them.
“Within days of their adoption, Haven was found abandoned inside his carrier in a dumpster near William Ohlson’s residence in Reno, Nevada,” the group wrote in a social media post. “Washoe County Regional Animal Services responded and took Haven into protective custody while conducting its investigation.”
