Accusations of killing cats with a trash compactor have led police to charge three Jayco employees with animal torture. Photo from Jayco.

News Release

MIDDLEBURY — Three Jayco employees are facing accusations of killing cats with a garbage compactor, an act that carries felony charges.

On Thursday, Feb. 27, Middlebury police were called to the Middlebury-based RV company on reports of three men placing stray cats into the compactor.

John Lipscomb told police that he was having difficulty getting rid of stray cats from the premises. One of them had a claw stuck, so he sliced off its toe, taped two others in microwave boxes, and — with the help of coworkers Travis McKay and Arlin Hochstetler — put the cats inside the trash compressor.

McKay explained to the police that they wanted to deal with the situation on their own, because local animal shelters were full and not accepting new strays. According to a probable cause affidavit, McKay went on to explain that since they intentionally made the machine’s “ram” quick, the suffering felt by the cats was minimized.

Hochstetler claimed that he and Lipscomb wanted the cats removed, but were chiefly worried about the animals’ suffering.

Jayco’s vice president of operations implied to the police that placing the cats in the compressor was the men acting in Jayco’s best interests, the probable cause affidavit claims.

The three men were later officially fired from Jayco, the company reported.

All three men were charged with a level 6 felony of two charges of torture or mutilation of a vertebrate animal.