A Pittsburgh-area construction worker is facing animal cruelty charges for allegedly killing a raccoon at a job site and posting video of the incident to social media.
Troy Beglinger, 22, of Crafton, allegedly killed the animal while working on a porch roof on Jancey Street in the Morningside neighborhood of Pittsburgh in August, according to a criminal complaint filed Saturday.
He is facing two misdemeanor cruelty to animals charges and one felony aggravated cruelty to animals charge.
Beglinger, who was the foreman for the roofing crew, and the other workers found the raccoon living in a hole in the porch roof, the complaint said. They put a board in the hole to allow the animal to exit. When the raccoon came up the board, Beglinger hit the raccoon with a hammer, the complaint said.
At that point, another unnamed worker allegedly picked up the raccoon, waved its paw and approached other workers with its body. Video of the incident was allegedly posted to social media by Beglinger.
The video was reported to Pittsburgh Animal Care and Control on Aug. 22.
Beglinger allegedly told police that he was employed by CS Home Improvement.
Chris Stanley, who owns the company, said that the incident did not happen on one of his company’s projects.
“He didn’t work for me at the time; it didn’t happen on my job,” Stanley said. “I didn’t have anything to do with the situation.”
Stanley said Beglinger started working for him after the incident took place.
Stanley said made the decision Sunday to terminate Beglinger.
Beglinger could not be reached for comment.
