Warning: This article describes disturbing acts of violence committed against live animals.
RANDOLPH COUNTY, N.C. — Arrest warrants shed light on the horrific acts behind an Asheboro 16-year-old's animal abuse charges.
Joshua Brian Davis, 16, has been charged with five counts of felony cruelty to animals and received a $15,000 bond. The teenager was arrested after police said he had videos of himself abusing animals.
The offenses took place from March 15 to April 4, involving a cat, raccoons and opossums.
According to arrest warrants, the teenager trapped a raccoon in a live trap. With the animal caged, he stabbed it multiple times with a wooden stick and set it on fire while it was still alive.
He allegedly used a pair of bolt cutters to break the raccoon's leg and paw.
He also caught another raccoon which he allegedly stabbed with a sharpened stick and nailed to a tree.
The warrants describe two incidences in which the suspect caught wild oppossums, stabbed them with a wooden stick and nailed them to a tree.
In one of those incidences, he is accused of cutting open the animal's gut while it was nailed to the tree.
The warrant also said he strangled a cat to death with his hands.
A Randolph County Sheriff’s Office school resource officer received information that Davis had the videos on Thursday.
Davis was called in and admitted to having videos and images of himself abusing animals, according to a news release from the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies said the images and videos showed Davis abusing domestic and wild animals.
The North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission has been contacted and more charges may be forthcoming.
