A five-month-old kitten named Nabi suffered a spinal fracture, partial lung collapse and paralysis in its rear legs after its owner allegedly threw it against a wall because he was trying to sleep and the animal was making too much noise. Doctors said the injuries were irreversible, and the kitten was euthanized. The owner, Beion Crespo Rimando, now faces a felony animal cruelty charge.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Metropolitan Police Department received a call on Oct. 9 for Clark County Animal Protection Services at Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Hospital near Tropicana Avenue and Durango Drive. Police identified Rimando as the man who had brought Nabi to the hospital after noticing the kitten could not walk, according to the police report described in the newspaper's reporting. Rimando told veterinary staff he had thrown his five-month-old kitten against a wall, the paper reported.
Nabi's injuries were extensive. Along with the spinal fracture and dislocation and the partial lung collapse, the kitten had bleeding from its nostril and visible blood in its left eye, according to the same account. Doctors reported that Nabi had sustained irreversible trauma and recommended euthanasia, and the kitten was ultimately put down.
Arrest Came Weeks After the Kitten's Death
Rimando was not taken into custody until Nov. 5, when officers encountered him after he agreed to meet them about a different matter, per the report. Police took him into custody after seeing him leave a Las Vegas-area apartment that day, and he was booked at the Clark County Detention Center.
Court records cited by the outlet show Rimando now faces a felony charge of willful or malicious torture or maiming of a companion or pleasure animal resulting in death. His bail was set at $5,000, and he posted bail following a hearing the same week. A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for Jan. 25, 2027. Rimando is represented by attorney Craig Hendricks, who did not respond to the Review-Journal's request for comment, the paper noted.
A Tougher Nevada Law Faces an Early Test
The charge against Rimando comes under a Nevada law that significantly raised the stakes for people convicted of killing animals through willful abuse. As Nevada Current has reported, Reba's Law increased the penalty for willful animal abuse or neglect resulting in death from a category D felony, punishable by up to four years in prison, to a category B felony carrying a minimum of one year and up to six years. During the legislative process, the outlet noted, a proposed 10-year maximum penalty and a provision targeting people who fail to prevent animal abuse were both stripped from the bill.
Nevada Current's reporting also detailed a separate Henderson case that tested the same law. Police accused Angel Ventura Ayala of throwing his girlfriend's three-month-old kitten against a wall and then into a parking lot, allegedly after sending her a video of the act to intimidate her. Ayala was charged with one felony count of domestic violence abuse with a deadly weapon and two felony counts of animal abuse intended to threaten or terrorize an individual, and a judge ordered him to stay away from his girlfriend, guns and any animals while the case proceeded. That kitten survived with minor injuries and was turned over to Henderson Animal Shelter, according to the same report.
Nevada's animal cruelty statute, NRS 574.100, covers torturing, overdriving, injuring or abandoning animals and failing to provide proper sustenance, according to the Nevada Legislature's published statutes. Separately, the 2025 legislative text of Assembly Bill 381 classifies a willful and malicious violation causing an animal's death as a category B felony and authorizes officers to arrange for a cruelly treated animal to be humanely destroyed once a licensed veterinarian, veterinary technician or euthanasia technician examines it and recommends euthanasia.
