Two Orange County Jailers Fired for Reportedly Tasing a Cat

[Maddy McCall]

Orange County Sheriff's investigators were unable to substantiate whether personnel at Theo Lacy jail used a Taser on a cat, but two rookie deputies were let go during the course of the probe.

Information uncovered by investigators prompted sheriff's officials to release deputies Joseph E. Mirander and Duy X. Tran, both of whom had graduated from the academy in November and were still on probation. Mirander did not return three phone messages left at his home. Tran could not be located for comment.

Because they were on probation, the two deputies could be let go immediately for such things as being evasive during questioning. Officially, their release would be recorded as a no-fault failure of probation.

Sheriff's department spokesman Ryan Burris said the deputies were no longer employed with the department as of April 17, the day after news broke that jailers reportedly stunned a cat with electrical charges from a Taser. A search located the severely decomposed corpse of a black cat near the adjacent Orange County Animal Shelter.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/deputies-sheriff-county-2034917-cat-orange

[rpannier]

1. The Orange County Sheriff's Department must just be so damned proud

Kudos to whomever reported it.

[rwenos]

2. Proud of Mike Carona too, I'll Bet :-)

Sheriff Carona resigned eight months ago, under federal indictment for accepting bribes. They've got him on tape!

OC politicians come in two colors: dirty and dirtier.

[medeak]

3. prison cats are sometimes the only thing they have

to keep them going... watched documentary with old timer prisoner rooting for cats that could allude the guards..they were his pets. Can you imagine how heartbreaking it is for some to see one die?

[madmusic]

4. OCSO is in meltdown, scandal after scandal

First the http://www.ocregister.com/section/sheriff-mike-carona-1917053/"> sheriff fiasco, then the http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/sections/news/politics/chamberlain/">Chamberlain murder and its cover up in the jail. Then the http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/politics/chamberlain/recent/article_2014242.php">Gomez death by guards. Not to mention the millions they paid out in lawsuits.

The cat is the latest in a long list.

[shanti]

5. shoot, aren't they all??

sacramento is having its moments too:(

[tishaLA]

6. they really are. the department seems rife with pathologies.

[elocs]

7. Law enforcement and prison/jail guards attract exactly the type of scum

you never want to see be in any position of power. Sociopaths, sickos, criminals, crooks. I bet they don't do so well when they are on the other side of those bars.