PAHRUMP (KTNV) — The man at the center of the largest animal cruelty case in Nye County history is under arrest again after 13 Investigates received a tip that he was planning to flee the country.
Late Wednesday afternoon, 13 Investigates got a text from a local animal welfare advocate that Vasili Platunov was planning to move to Israel in the coming days.
We were told that his Pahrump home is boarded up, he's been selling off his belongings--including his guns--and he'd reportedly told someone he already had his plane ticket.
We gave all that information to Nye County District Attorney Brian Kunzi, who immediately followed up. Platunov was arrested Thursday night, preventing him from leaving the country to avoid prosecution that could put him in jail for the rest of his life.
"I've been a prosecutor for over 20 years and I don't know that I've ever seen a worse case of animal torture and abuse," D.A. Kunzi said.
The Nye County D.A. has two pending felony cruelty cases against Vasili Platunov and his ex-wife, Oksana Higgins. As 13 Investigates first reported in June of 2022, Platunov was illegally breeding Russian Caucasian Shepherds that he sold as guard dogs.
Within two months of our investigation airing, Platunov and Higgins were both arrested and charged with torturing and neglecting nearly 300 dogs in two locations.
The first case centers on one particular dog in Pahrump and is scheduled for trial in early August.
"And then the other one is the charges that are arising out of the operations that he was doing out in Amargosa Valley where the dogs were completely neglected," Kunzi explained. "In fact, the way they were caged, they were basically cannibalizing each other... So, it really is horrific."
Platunov has been out on bail pending trial with the condition that he's not allowed to leave the state of Nevada. But authorities discovered he's already done that, traveling to Israel for medical care without court permission.
"With the nature of the charges, with the significant punishment that he is facing, he is a huge flight risk," Kunzi said.
Following up on the tip 13 Investigates received, Nye County authorities arrested Platunov after the D.A. filed a motion to show cause as to why he shouldn't have his bail revoked.
Platunov will be in court for that show-cause hearing on May 29 and will remain behind bars at least until then.
Oksana Higgins remains out of jail pending trial.
As for the animals, as we've reported, nearly 200 of them were in such bad shape that they had to be euthanized. The rest were rescued, rehabilitated and adopted out with the help of local and national animal welfare organizations.
