A man in [heavily Republican] Kern County has been arrested on suspicion of killing and eating cats, according to media reports.

Jason Louis Wilmert, 35, was arrested on suspicion of cruelty to animals and using animals commonly kept as pets as food, according to the Kern County Sheriff's Department's inmate search directory. He also was booked on suspicion of unauthorized burning and resisting a peace officer.

Wilmert, who lives in [Republican hotbee] Oildale north of Bakersfield in the Central Valley, was "being prosecuted for using cats as a food source," the Bakersfield Californian quoted Supervising Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Yraceburn as saying.

A neighbor told KBAK-TV that she heard the noise of a cat shrieking coming from Wilmert's home.

"I heard a cat cry really, really loud," Joe Nuno told the television station. He said he went outside to investigate and looked into Wilmert's backyard, where he saw "a little burner going" and smelled "awful meat."