Charleston Animal Society: Social media led them to Summerville teen who threw cats in video

MT. PLEASANT, SC (WCSC) - An 18-year-old has been sentenced to 50 hours of community service after videos uploaded to social media showed the Summerville teen throwing cats into the air and across a street.

Deonta Weaver was issued a citation for animal mistreatment by Mt. Pleasant Police. The Summerville High School student admitted Monday in Municipal Court that he threw the kitten and cat while visiting family in Mt. Pleasant. According to a police report, Weaver posted the videos on Instagram, Facebook and Vine.

The disturbing videos, recorded by a second person, shows Weaver calling for a nearby cat, picking it up, and launching it through the air by its legs. A second video shows the same act, but with a different cat. A young child can be seen standing next to Weaver during one of the throws.

"In the first video, he throws a kitten up over telephone pole wires," said Charleston Animal Society Cruelty Investigator Aldwin Roman. "Both videos are difficult to watch because the treatment towards the kitten and the cat was cruel and clearly illegal."

Roman says he spent months tracking down the videos' source.

"I was relentless with how much time I spent on the computer finding all his profiles, all the information, pulling it, collecting it."

In Mt. Pleasant, the Animal Care and Mistreatment Statute is on par with the state penalty.

"Fifty hours of community service may not seem justified for what he did," says Roman. "I do want to give him a little bit of credit of the doubt that he's a young kid. He made some bad decisions. Maybe the 50 hours of community service will give him a chance to think about what he did."

While in court, Roman says Weaver personally apologized to him and called his actions "stupid."

"I'm glad he owned up to it, but the act was still done."

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