Tortoise torturer pleads no contest; his sis' makes cold-hearted 'turtle' comment

18-year-old Tony Mosqueda pleaded no contest this week to kidnapping and slashing the throat of Ventura County tortoise Bob (as well as chopping off one of Bob's toes, stabbing his shell, throwing him against a wall and leaving him for dead in an alley), and will probably be sentenced to less than a year in jail.

To add injury to injury, pet parents Dorothy and Bill Sullivan have been the target of threats throughout the case, and days before Mosqueda pleaded no contest their 12-year-old miniature dachshund was apparently poisoned to death:

"But along with the well-wishes came the threats — at first, mostly phone calls from anonymous men and women urging the family to drop the charges against Mosqueda, something the couple had no authority to do.

The threats, which the family reported to police, escalated over the weekend. Sullivan found a rock in her yard with an attached note that said if she did not drop the charges she 'would get one in the head.' She turned the rock and the note over to police.

The rock incident followed a phone call several weeks ago where the caller told Sullivan that her 'little brown dog would be next,' she said.

On Tuesday, a day after Flapps had been euthanized, the latest caller said, 'woof, woof' then hung up, Sullivan said."

When asked about the threats outside court Wednesday, Mosqueda's sister, Celia Ramirez -- obviously a deep, thoughtful, brilliant, empathetic woman *cough cough* -- said, "We don't bother them. We don't really care about the turtle."

Where does one start? First, with Mosqueda. His attorney claimed he's "a young, 18-year-old kid with almost no record." Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. I fail to see how the court can adequately sentence a guy like this -- for the protection of society at large -- without a complete psychological evaluation. A person who tortures an animal for enjoyment and gets a thrill out of causing pain to a living being is only one step away -- that being the presentation of the perfect opportunity and ideal victim -- from killing a person. Would this court have that kind of blood on its hands by slapping the wrist of a clearly disordered offender?

Next, to the threats and the death of the Sullivans' dog. Come on, people, this is so obvious. Who else would have the motive to terrorize the family and demand they drop charges? I hope that the police not only pursue the obvious suspects, but offer some protection to the Sullivan family.

And, finally, the sister and her "we don't care about the turtle" comment. Not only does Celia clearly need a zoology lesson for her turtle/tortoise confusion, but her lack of empathy is truly sickening. However, she should be reminded that, conversely, very, very few readers care about her tortoise-torturing brother -- and hope he goes away for a lot longer than a year.