CLEVELAND -- An Ohio man accused of setting a cat on fire has pleaded not guilty to animal cruelty charges.
Police arrested 26-year-old D'erise Carson Thursday in Cleveland. He is accused of slamming a cat into the ground repeatedly and then setting it on fire with lighter fluid earlier this year.
The cat died from its injuries, and police issued a warrant for Carson's arrest.
Carson pleaded not guilty on Friday to four misdemeanor counts of cruelty against companion animals. No attorney is listed for him in court records.
A pretrial hearing for Carson is scheduled scheduled Aug. 27.
Carson's arrest follows another northeast Ohio animal cruelty case. On Wednesday, Akron police arrested a man for kicking a stray cat into the air. Videos of that went viral on the Internet.
