WESTFIELD — Two men accused of killing a pet rabbit, and possibly a fish, during a Thanksgiving Day party in 2024 recently pleaded guilty to charges of animal cruelty and the malicious killing of a domestic animal. They were also sentenced to probation.
Alexey Dimoglo, 21, of Bliss Street, West Springfield, and Gabriel Nava, 21, of Narragansett Boulevard, Chicopee, pleaded guilty to the charges in district court on Sept. 17 and Nov. 14, respectively.
Nava was sentenced to administrative supervision — unsupervised probation — for one year, and Dimoglo was sentenced to two years of risk/need probation, which is a risk and needs assessment done to evaluate his likelihood of re-offending, and identify the factors contributing to his criminal behavior to create a customized supervision and treatment plan.
Last Thanksgiving Day, both were at a party in a duplex on Mechanic Street when Dimoglo picked up a pet rabbit named Pumpernickel owned by a woman at the party. He dropped it after he said it bit him, witnesses told the police.
He then “aggressively” picked up the rabbit again by its ears and held it in the air before throwing it “forcefully” down on the floor, witnesses said.
Witnesses, who contacted police about the incident, said the rabbit tried to move on its own towards its cage and was “struggling to breathe.” Minutes later, the rabbit was unable to move its front legs before it rolled on its side and began shaking, witnesses told police.
Nava then picked up the severely injured rabbit, took it to the back porch of the apartment, and threw it like a “football” into the parking lot, the witnesses said.
He walked to where the rabbit landed and looked like he was going to pick it up again, but he was talked out of it by one of those at the party, witnesses told police.
The incident was recorded on a surveillance camera, and either Nava or Dimoglo could be heard in the background saying, “we just committed a murder,” while laughing, police said.
Minutes later, Dimoglo recorded himself with a cell phone scooping a betta fish out of a fish tank in the apartment. It jumped out of his hand onto the floor, but was put back in the tank. Minutes later, one of the witnesses told police the fish was found dead inside the tank’s filter.
Police suspected Dimoglo caused the fish’s death, but couldn’t conclusively confirm he caused it.
Later that day, friends of those who attended the party messaged Nava and Dimoglo on various social media sites and let them know they were upset over what happened, police said.
Dimoglo responded, also on a social media site, by posting an image of a firearm with a red laser sight with the message, “This [expletive] Bullet ID.” Nava posted a similar image with the message: “And to all the people who wanna believe that stfu and come meet the beam. I ain’t do [expletive],” police said.
Later that day, police said, Dimoglo posted a photo on a social media site of a man leaning against a car with the message, “How bro looks after drinking raw animal blood.”
After being arraigned in district court, both were held without bail awaiting a dangerousness hearing. They were released after posting bail with special conditions, including Dimoglo being ordered to wear a GPS tracker, according to court records.
During the court proceedings involving Dimoglo, several conferences were held, and a jury trial date was set for December. However, on Sept. 17, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced.
The attorney for Nava made a motion in July to dismiss the charges, which were denied.
In August, Nava violated his pre-trial probation, and the state asked for his bail to be revoked and for him to be taken into custody. That request was denied, but additional conditions were added, according to court records.
Nava’s trial was also scheduled for December, but he pleaded guilty to the two charges on Nov. 14.
