A man with a violent criminal past is facing a felony charge in Lincoln County after authorities say he assaulted a recently adopted cat named “Louie.”

Paris Anthony Sjostrand, 28, of Eureka was arraigned June 2 in Lincoln County District Court after being accused of aggravated animal cruelty. He pleaded not guilty and Judge Matt Cuffe set his next court appearance for July 7.

Following the hearing, Sjostrand said, “God bless you, your honor.” 

Cuffe replied with a brief “thank you.”

Sjostrand is free after posting $10,000 bail following his May 17 arrest in Eureka.

In a warrantless probable cause statement, Deputy Bo Pitman of the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office reported getting a call at 5:30 a.m. May 16 to 224 Kettlehorn Drive in Eureka for a disturbance.

The property owner and her daughter lived at the home with Sjostrand. The daughter told Pitman she kicked Sjostrand out of the house at 3:30 a.m. when she discovered he allegedly assaulted her cat. She said they adopted the 6-year-old cat the previous day from a shelter in Kalispell.

The daughter said she and Sjostrand argued and she left their bedroom to sleep in another bedroom. She also said he made a threat to harm the cat, according to court documents. She believed he was jealous of the cat because she was giving it more love than she was giving him. 

She said she woke at about 3 a.m. and discovered the cat had severe injuries to its mouth and jaw. When she confronted Sjostrand, he allegedly admitted to “slapping it around a little bit.”

When Pitman examined the cat it appeared to have a broken jaw. The daughter also said Sjostrand poured a chemical from the bathroom over the feline. The deputy smelled a chemical odor on the cat but reported the daughter had bathed the animal before he arrived.

Later that day, Pitman checked on the feline at the Mountain View Veterinarian Clinic where Dr. Calhoun said they were holding the cat over the weekend. She said the cat had skull fractures and brain trauma.

The vet said the cat’s jaw wasn’t broken, but the skin was detached from the lower jaw and stitches were needed to reattach it. Due to the brain injury, the vet said she had to wait to perform the surgery. She also said the cat could not eat or drink on its own.

The next day. Pitman returned to the residence, arrested Sjostrand and read him his rights.

The defendant allegedly said he was angry and took it out on the cat. He said he took it outside and was going to release it, but changed his mind and “slapped it around a bit,” court documents allege.

When Pitman asked Sjostrand about the skull fractures, the defendant said while he was slapping the cat, it fell and struck its head on the corner of one of the porch stairs.

According to court documents and media accounts, Sjostrand was implicated in a murder during a drug deal gone bad eight years ago in St. Paul, Minnesota.

He pleaded guilty in April 2018 to aiding and abetting the murder and served a little more than two years in prison. The maximum sentence was 40 years. A charge of conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery was dismissed in the plea deal.

On July 12, 2018, he was sentenced to five years in the Minnesota Correctional Facility in St. Cloud.

According to court documents, Sjostrand was involved with three others who planned to rob a man of three pounds of marijuana. Sjostrand didn’t shoot the man, but he acted as a look out or distraction during the 2017 robbery attempt.