Hartford Man Sentenced In Grisly Tolland County Animal Cruelty Case

VERNON, CT — A sentence has been rendered in a grisly animal cruelty case in Tolland County that involved the torture of a rabbit.

Tolland State's Attorney Matthew C. Gedansky said that Judge Kathleen McNamara Friday sentenced 29-year-old Hartford resident Patryk Sochocki to five years in prison, execution suspended after one year served, to be followed by five years of probation, for the charge of first-degree malicious killing of an animal.

Sochocki’s sentencing in Rockville Superior Court follows his arrest in October 2019 during a traffic stop in Tolland.

After observing a motor vehicle swerving and failing to maintain its lane, state police initiated a traffic stop, suspecting the operator was intoxicated, according to case records. As they approached the driver, identified as Sochocki, a trooper noticed Sochocki was covered in "white animal fur," according to case records. The trooper also saw blood-soaked scissors and animal fur on the front passenger seat and a cardboard box on the front passenger side floor, case records show.

In the box was a bloody, tri-colored rabbit that was "in clear medical distress," according to case records.

Investigators determined Sochocki had purchased that rabbit half at a pet store an hour before the incident, after first wanting to purchase a dog, according to case records. While driving from the store, Sochocki dismembered the rabbit by cutting the off the rabbit's two hind legs, genitalia and tail, while the rabbit was still alive, case records show.

The rabbit was later humanely euthanized as a result of his injuries, Gedansky said.

The case was prosecuted by Supervisory Assistant State's Attorney Jaclyn Preville.