Two Long Island teenagers have been charged with animal cruelty and third-degree criminal trespass after dousing a turtle with gasoline, setting it on fire, and then stabbing it with a pole until it died. Roark Xanthos and Thomas Gorman, both 18, allegedly found the 12-pound snapping turtle off of Bellport Road on May 22nd. The two asked a friend if he wanted the turtle, but he declined. Xanthos and Gorman then apparently waited for their friend to leave his house, constructed a fire pit in his backyard, and tortured the animal.
The friend's family came home and called the police once they found the turtle's carcass. The two were arrested and face up to two years in jail. A necropsy performed on the turtle also found that it was covered in melted plastic, leading Sgt. Bryan McMenemy of the Suffolk Police Fifth Squad to believe they left the turtle in a milk crate when they set it on fire. He told Newsday (subscription required), "It was probably two kids bored, don't have anything better to do. It's horrible."
