BY Matthew Lysiak, Caitlin Millat Alison Gendar and Larry Mcshane
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
June 6th 2009
The teen accused in a Bronx kitty killing was busted last year in the armed dog-napping of a teacup Yorkie, police said.
Cheyenne Cherry's boyfriend snatched the pooch from a woman in a Bronx park last June after holding a BB gun to her forehead, police said.
Days later, Cherry, 17, had the nerve to send friends to show up with the dog when a $500 reward was posted, the pooch's owner said. "She's evil," Johan Castro, 23, said.
Despite her June 2008 arrest for larceny and extortion, along with two other busts, Cherry was released without bail after being charged with letting a friend's kitten die inside a 200-degree oven.
"They wonder why this little girl doesn't learn right from wrong," Castro said. "If she's willing to kill a cat and steal my dog, what else will she do? She thinks she can beat the system."
Cherry said little Tiger Lily was killed during "a practical joke" - the same excuse she gave for shoving a gun in the robbery victim's face last year, cops said.
"It was just a joke," Cherry said after her arrest for robbing a man of his iPod at gunpoint. She pleaded guilty to robbery and got five years probation.
Cherry also had a 2007 arrest for smacking a girl in the head with jewelry, police said.
Cherry, now charged with aggravated cruelty to animals, arson, burglary and criminal mischief, is a dog owner who loves pets, her brother insisted.
"My sister is no cat killer," said David Cherry. "Cheyenne is not an animal hater. She has a little Yorkie that she loves."
In a cruel twist to the case, a Brooklyn retiree who shares a last name with Cherry is getting threats after someone mistakenly listed her number on a Web posting about the cat slaying.
"They're all saying, 'You'll burn in hell,' 'Who the hell do you think you are?'" Bernadette Cherry, 72, said of the 75 calls from cat lovers.