McHenry Co. man admits to beating cat with golf club

A former Algonquin man who authorities say beat his roommate's cat with a golf club was sentenced to a year of nonreporting probation and a $500 fine Thursday after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor animal cruelty charge.

Donald E. Conrad, 30, also was ordered to pay $1,127 restitution to the cat's owner as part of a plea deal to allegations he clubbed a cat named Boogy in the head, fracturing its jaw and costing it an eye.

Conrad had been scheduled to go on trial Thursday on felony aggravated animal cruelty, but McHenry County prosecutors lowered the charge to a Class A misdemeanor as part of the negotiated plea. The only witness to the beating, said Nichole Owens, criminal division chief for the McHenry County State's Attorney, moved out of state and could not be located.

"Without that witness, there was insufficient evidence to prove the felony beyond a reasonable doubt," she said.

Conrad, whose most recent listed address was in Woodstock, declined to comment as he left court Thursday. But his attorney said Conrad denies hitting the cat with a golf club, and instead says he just threw the cat out of the apartment when it scratched a 2-year-old child.

According to Boogy's owner, Dana Borzick, the incident occurred Oct. 3, 2005 when Conrad, who shared an apartment with her and her fiance, called to say the 7-month-old cat had escaped their residence.

Later that night, Borzick said, her fiance found the black cat badly injured under a bush outside the apartment, its eye partially out of its socket.

Borzick said she and her fiance moved out the next day, and Conrad never offered any explanation for why he harmed her pet. Boogy survived, but not before Borzick said she spent more than $1,700 in veterinary costs to make him well.