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Saratoga County resident Anthony Gargano, age 49, of Gansevoort, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of violating the New York State Agriculture and Markets Law in Milton Town Court on Tuesday, March 5.
Sheriff’s officials said Gargano – who owns Spring Street Deli & Pizzeria in Saratoga Springs – left the cat outside of the Saratoga County Animal Shelter after hours on the night of Thursday, Jan. 4. Temperatures at the time hovered around 20 degrees.
Surveillance video showed him leaving the animal without shelter and driving away, prosecutors said. The cat, named Kane, hasn’t been seen since.
Gargano was fed up with the “sweet” ginger cat showing up to his Spring Street eatery, where it was “loved by many” and often fed by employees, according to a GoFundMe created to help find the animal.
Kane’s owner, Jaime DiGiovanni, told the Schenectady Daily Gazette she and Gargano spoke the day before the incident, and he threatened to contact animal control if she didn’t stop the cat from entering his business. She then told the restaurant’s employees to stop feeding Kane.
The Saratoga County Animal Shelter in Ballston Spa called her on Jan. 10 and informed her that Kane had been dropped off at the facility on Jan. 4 and that someone had confessed to doing so, the Daily Gazette reports.
“What bothers me is he knew it was my cat, he knows I live three houses down and you chose to take him when the shelter was closed and drop him off, and we still haven't found Kane,” DiGiovanni told the outlet.
Her family is devastated by the loss of their beloved pet, which was adopted by her teenage son’s late father.
Saratoga County District Attorney Karen Heggen called Gargano’s actions “inexcusable.”
“It is ironic that Defendant Gargano left Kane the cat without shelter outside the County’s Animal Shelter where animals are cared for, but did so after hours when no one was present to receive the cat on a cold winter night,” she said.
In court Tuesday, Gargano was sentenced to a conditional discharge that bars him from owning or harboring any animal for 50 years.
He was also ordered to pay a $500 fine and provide a DNA sample to the state’s DNA database.
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