Dimitri Diatchenko - A popular North Hollywood actor and musician has been arrested and charged after killing and cooking his ex-girlfriend's pet rabbit and sending her pictures of the gruesome act, while threatening to do the same to her.
Reports indicate that on Tuesday, 46-year-old Dimitri Diatchenko was charged in Los Angeles with several felony counts of animal cruelty with the use of a knife. He was also charged with making criminal threats.
"Diatchenko skinned the pet, cooked it and ate half of it while sending her step-by-step pictures of what he did," a statement from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office read.
Authorities say Dimitri Diatchenko and the woman, whose identity has not been disclosed, have been living together for some time, although they had long broken up. According to local sources, the incident happened after she told him that they should stop living together.
On Sunday, Sept.7, while his ex was out of the house, Dimitri Diatchenko caught, killed and eat her pet. He documented the horrible incident on camera and sent it to her. And when the obviously appalled woman confronted him, he threatened to do the same to her, the police statement said.
Reports indicate that in the past Dimitri Diatchenko has posted photos of an adorable pet rabbit called Miss Ella on his Facebook page. It has not been confirmed if this was the rabbit he slaughtered. Diatchenko has a pet English bulldog.
Dimitri Diatchenko has been released from custody after posting a $90,000 bail. He is scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 30. His manager Barry Bookin has not yet released a comment on the bizarre case.
If found guilty, Diatchenko faces a maximum sentence of four years and eight months in prison.
Dimitri Diatchenko was born in San Francisco and has starred in several movies in his 17-year acting career, including Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Diatchenko has mainly played Russian and Eastern European bad guys on TV. In his most recent role, the actor played a Russian villain on season 4 of the just ended TV series Sons of Anarchy.