34-year-old Paul Kiyan faces range of charges
By Chad Winthrop
A man faces burglary, vandalism and animal cruelty charges for allegedly breaking into a Bel Air home, swimming naked in the residence’s pool and strangling the owner’s parakeets.
On Sunday, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), announced that Paul Kiyan, age 34, had been arrested in connection to an incident last week.
According to the LAPD, officers were dispatched to a on the 1000 block of Casiano Road at around 2:30 p.m. last Thursday regarding a burglary suspect. Police arrived and found Kiyan, who had been detained by private security.
According to police, the homeowner’s wife had viewed the man on the house’s close-circuit security cameras and then called her husband.
The husband then confronted Kiyan and then called the LAPD. Before the police arrived, however, the suspect had put on a pair of the husband’s shorts and started eating and drinking from the kitchen. In addition, police say he “strangled the victim’s pet birds, killing them.”
“I saw what he did to them,” homeowner Mat Sabz told KTLA-5. “He said `Hi birdies,’ with a smile and put his hands in the cage and squeezed them, and then dropped them on the floor violently and then started stomping on them.”
According to the LAPD, Kiyan entered the home through the garage by removing the door opener from an unlocked vehicle outside. Police say he allegedly caused at least $1,500 worth of damage to the property.
On June 21 Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón has announced that Kiyan was charged with an handful of offenses in relation to the incident. According to the District Attorney, Kiyan faces four felony counts: one count each of first-degree residential burglary with a person present and vandalism as well as two counts of cruelty to an animal.
