A 40-year-old Long Beach man has been charged with illegally trapping a coyote that was later euthanized as a result of its injuries this past July, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.
Richard David Wallem faces one felony count of cruelty to an animal and a misdemeanor count of using a trap with saw-toothed or spiked jaws, according to authorities. Prosecutors said Wallem was hired by families in the Valley Village neighborhood to humanely trap coyotes, but the traps he’s accused of using were illegal steel-jawed leg traps.
On July 3, a resident in the Valley Village neighborhood notified authorities that she saw a young female coyote with her leg caught in one of the traps, according to the DA’s office said. Investigators from the Los Angeles City Department of Animal Services got the animal out of the trap and took her to a veterinarian.
If convicted as charged, Wallem faces a possible maximum sentence of three years and six months in county jail.
The case remains under investigation by the Los Angeles City Department of Animal Services.