UPDATE (Aug. 20, 2026) - Ramon Guerney Curtis, 61, River Falls, was convicted of intentionally mistreat animals Aug. 13 and fined $1,000. He pleaded no contest to and entered into a deferred judgment of conviction agreement on a felony mistreatment of animals/cause death charge.

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TOWN OF CLIFTON – A town of Clifton man is accused of killing his daughters cats without permission by using car exhaust while pet sitting them.

Ramon Guerney Curtis, 63, River Falls, posted a $5,000 signature bond April 1 in Pierce County Circuit Court on two felony mistreatment of animals charges. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 3.5 years in prison and/or fines up to $10,000.

According to the complaint:

At 10:55 a.m. Tuesday, March 31, Pierce County Sheriff’s Office deputies were notified of an animal abuse complaint. The woman said her dad, identified as Curtis, had recently killed her two male cats while taking care of them. She told officers she and her husband were transitioning between homes, so they asked Curtis and his wife if they would care for the cats until they got settled. She said he agreed to do so, so they brought the cats to his residence at W11360 840^th Ave.

She said at one point, her dad asked her if she’d like him to get rid of the cats. She was adamant that she had told him no, that she just wanted him to watch them until they were settled in their new residence. He had been pet sitting the cats for about two months. One was an 11-year-old male named Rootin, the other a 1-year-old male named Berry.

While speaking to her father on March 30, he allegedly told her that he’d killed them both by carbon dioxide poisoning from a vehicle on March 25 and that he hadn’t planned on telling her unless she asked. She said he never indicated that he no longer wanted to watch the cats or wanted to get rid of them. She and her husband provided police with audio footage in which they said he admitted to killing the cats.

Police responded to Curtis’ residence and were greeted by him and his wife. He admitted to police that he’d been watching the cats and had killed them. He claimed his daughter didn’t want them anymore and said he and his wife had made several attempts to rehome them without success. He said he didn’t just let them go because he doesn’t believe in feral cats. He said his daughter had made it “perfectly clear” that she didn’t want the cats, which was the opposite of what she said.

Curtis admitted to officers that he felt the cats had been dumped on them and he and his wife didn’t want them. They said they hadn’t told the complainant that they didn’t want them there. He told officers he put the cats in a cage in a small shop near his home, put a tarp over the cage and used his vehicle’s exhaust fumes to gas and kill them. He put the vehicle’s exhaust fumes into the cage for about 45 minutes before returning to find the cats dead. He buried them in a nearby woods. He admitted what he had done was wrong and that he shouldn’t have done it.

Police informed him that killing the cats the way he did was felony level animal cruelty. They arrested hm and transported him to Pierce County Jail without incident.

His next court appearance is a status conference at 10:45 a.m. April 28.