Fraudster who tortured cats gets Virginia’s harshest-ever animal abuse penalty

Rodney Travis Jr., 27, pleaded guilty to animal abuse and computer fraud after prosecutors said he beat and maimed nearly 20 cats, filming the injuries and passing them off online as cancer symptoms to solicit donations. He raised over $400,000 since 2023 across social media accounts before citizen investigators across multiple countries tracked him down and alerted police.

A Henrico County judge accepted a plea deal sentencing Travis to 15 years, the longest such sentence in state history. Investigators found blood-covered cat beds, a book containing cat blood and fur, and rescued six cats from his apartment, one of which died en route to a veterinarian from a crushed skull.

Prosecutors said Travis had also run an earlier $300,000 scam soliciting donations under a different pretext, using proceeds to fund a music career, though no charges were filed in that case. His father pleaded guilty to lesser charges for his own role in the scheme.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.