ohmidog!

Authorities in South Florida have arrested a teenager they believe responsible for at least some of the recent rash of mysterious cat killings and mutilations.

Police charged 18-year-old Tyler Hayes Weinman with 19 counts each of animal  cruelty and improperly disposing of an animal body, the Associated Press reported. Weinman’s parents, divorced, live in the two neighborhoods where many of the cats were killed.

“It’s shocking to think that someone who lives right here and is our neighbor would do something like this,” said Thomas Shad, a Cutler Bay resident whose black cat, Miss Kitty, was among the dead.

Authorities had been watching Weinman and interviewed him on prom night, AP reported. He was arrested at a party on Sunday.

Weinman’s attorney, David W. Macey, said in an e-mail that his client was innocent of the charges. “Tyler welcomes his day in court, so that he will be completely vindicated,” he said.

In the past month, residents in the Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay neighborhoods have reported finding the bodies of more than two dozen cats, although police said some were likely killed by dogs. Some were missing fur — neighbors said some had been skinned — and appeared to have been cut with a sharp, straight instrument, police said.

Louis B. Schlesinger, a professor of forensic psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, said cat killings are committed by “complicated individuals,” and are usually solo acts. He said the teenager should be evaluated, and he expected court officials to take the matter seriously.

“When you kill cats, disembowel them and cut their heads off, that is not a good sign and you do not have to be Sigmund Freud to see that,” he said.

Meanwhile, authorities in Broward County, Florida, say the deaths of 17 cats in one neighborhood may have been caused by stray dogs.

Police say three of the cat deaths in Lauderhill have been ruled animal-related. Tests on 14 other cat carcasses found since May 30 are still pending. Police reports say most of the cats were disemboweled, and one was decapitated.