Fort Worth comedian, activist charged with pepper-spraying cat, threatening 2 men with gun
A Fort Worth comedian and anti-violence activist is facing a charge of animal cruelty and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in two separate incidents, according to Tarrant County court records.
According to Fort Worth police records, Charleston White, 46, was arrested this week in connection with a report of animal cruelty in December 2022 and a November 2023 assault.
A complaint filed Wednesday by the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office alleges that White tortured a cat by spraying it with pepper spray last year.
White is charged with two counts of aggravated assault on Nov. 2, 2023, when a caller reported an assault in the 6800 block of Brentwood Stair Road. White initially reported he was the victim in the assault, according to a police report.
In the complaint the district attorney’s office filed about the assault, prosecutors allege that White threatened two men with a gun.
In a video he publicly posted on Tuesday on Facebook, White called the charges “trumped up.” He said the report of animal cruelty was “made up” and was because of a comedy skit.
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“The animal charge, somebody sent a screenshot of a cat, said I done something to a cat. I don’t know what that’s about,” White said in the video.
White goes on in the video to say someone hit him on the head with a gun while he was asleep and then he came outside with a gun to “protect his wife.”
White said in the video that he and his lawyer knew about the warrants for his arrest and that he intended to turn himself in. He also alleges that Fort Worth police entered “no bond amount” on his arrest warrants, preventing him from doing a “walk-through” with a judge.
White has been released on bond. His bond in the assault case was set at $15,000 and the bond in the animal cruelty case was set at $1,000.
The name of the attorney representing White is not listed in court records.
