Animal cruelty charge for Travis Co man

TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) - Losing two pets in a week’s time was an emotional blow for Lucinda Womack. The Travis County woman held one of her two surviving cats as she stood in the yard police had blocked Saturday night.

"Anyone who would hurt an animal is dangerous,” Lucinda said.

Her roommate, Michael Hiser, 51, someone she has known for a decade and occasionally dated, is now in the Travis County Jail charged with a felony count of cruelty to animals. Travis County Sheriff’s deputies found him sitting inside the home at 1716 Nightview Dr. with a dead kitten on his shoulder.

Lucinda recalled the events she said prompted her to call 911.

"When I came back out,” she said, “he was standing at the refrigerator making himself a drink, and my cat was on the floor, flopping with blood coming out of his mouth. He had been injured."

According to a court document, Womack told police, the night before, she saw her roommate throw that same kitten across the room.

"I think he threw it across the room again,” she said.

Just a week ago, another kitten disappeared. Womack said she had called to remind Hiser to feed the cats before she arrived home.

"He said that I didn't have to worry about the cat, that he got rid of the cat,” she said. “He kicked it hard enough, and he said it would never come back."

Her mother, Velda Womack, later found the other kitten dead in the yard.

"I don't know how to say it, other than he just has no control over his emotions,” Velda said.

An arrest warrant for Hiser said he told police the kitten from last night died by accident, somehow crushed under a recliner. Womack said the fact is this was the second dead cat in a week, prompting that call to police to protect not only her other cats but also herself.

"I hope they prosecute him,” she sobbed. “That was a six-week-old kitten, and he's a big man. Any man does not need to pound on an animal."

Hiser’s bond is set at $5,000. If convicted of the felony cruelty to animals charge, he could spend up to ten years in prison and pay a $10,000 fine.

Marble Falls Police arrested Hiser in May, charged with possession of marijuana and having a wrong, fictitious, or obscure vehicle registration. At the time, he was booked into the Burnet County Jail.