SAN JOSE, Calif. — A Northern California man avoided prison Friday after he stormed into a preschool last year and attacked a pet turtle named Michelangelo, The San Jose Mercury News reported .
The 42-year-old was also linked to another break-in at the East San Jose school, stealing thousands of dollars worth of items in the days before and after the attack on Michelangelo, a dozens-year-old African sulcat. ‘ years, in January 2021. .
The owner of the school discovered a bleeding Michelangelo last year after the attack, impaled in the shell by a 6-inch (15-centimeter) shrapnel from a wooden garden gate post. The man also inserted a rake handle between the animal’s head and leg and broke floodlights and placed broken glass on the turtle’s back, The Mercury News reported.
A judge sentenced the man Friday to two years of probation and mandatory mental health and substance abuse treatment. He had pleaded no contest to charges of animal abuse, commercial theft and vandalism earlier this year, the newspaper reported.
The man is now also banned from owning any animal for 10 years. His public defender said that his client’s behavior against the turtle was the result of excessive intoxication, rather than animal cruelty, the newspaper wrote.
The preschool did not return the newspaper’s request for comment on Friday.
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