Former Fairfield RTM Member Sentenced In Animal Cruelty Case: Report

FAIRFIELD, CT — Raymond Neuberger, a former member of the Fairfield Representative Town Meeting, was sentenced to 17 months in prison Thursday in an animal cruelty case, in which he was accused of torturing cats, the Connecticut Post reported.

Neuberger was sentenced in Bridgeport Superior Court by Judge Elizabeth Reid, who gave him a six-year sentence, suspended after 17 months served. Additionally, Neuberger must serve four years of probation after prison, he cannot own pets, and he must be supervised if around animals.

Under a plea deal, Neuberger had pleaded guilty to two counts of malicious wounding and one count of second-degree threatening in the case. He had been arrested on animal cruelty charges twice in a six-month period between October 2022 and February of this year.

In court on Thursday, state animal advocate Kenneth Bernhard reportedly referred to Neuberger as a "serial animal abuser." Bernhard asked Reid to give Neuberger a "severe sentence of confinement."

Neuberger, 40, was accused of fatally beating and dousing a cat in bleach in the October 2022 case, and in the February case, he was accused of chemically burning another cat, but the feline survived.

In 2018, Neuberger served a short stint in jail in connection with a case in which he was accused of abusing two dogs, according to the Post.

Neuberger, a Republican, served on the Fairfield RTM from 2013 to 2017, and in 2016, he also ran and lost to state Rep. Cristin McCarthy Vahey in the 133rd District.

Read the Connecticut Post story.