A&E’s ‘My Strange Arrest’ to feature segment on Wetumpka ‘cat ladies’

WETUMPKA ‒ The “Cat Ladies” of Wetumpka will tell their stories to a national television audience.

An episode of “My Strange Arrest” will air July 26 at 9:30 p.m. on A&E. Terry Luck, one of the women’s attorneys, confirmed the broadcast. It’s a half-hour show.

The women were feeding, trapping and then paying to neuter stray cats in downtown Wetumpka when they were arrested a year ago. The arrest drew media attention and national and international outrage.

Beverly Roberts, who was 84 at the time, and Mary Alston, who was 60, were arrested by Wetumpka police June 25, 2022, on misdemeanor charges. In December, Wetumpka Municipal Judge Jeff Courtney found both women guilty: Roberts of criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct and Alston of criminal trespassing and obstructing governmental operations.

He sentenced them both to two years of probation and 10 days in jail. The jail sentences were suspended.

The program is in its first season and offers “…an in-depth look at the people who were arrested for allegedly committing some of the weirdest, wildest and most bizarre crimes ever,” the show’s website reads. Streaming is available the day after the broadcast.

The trial in Wetumpka Municipal Court took about five hours and often devolved into the emotional and bizarre. The women filed an appeal to Elmore County Circuit Court, and the City of Wetumpka decided to no longer pursue criminal charges against the women.

Now the two are working to clear their names. Luck said they will be pursuing expungement, which would remove the arrests from their records. Without this step, the arrests would remain on their record, even though the charges were dropped.

“Beverly and Mary did nothing wrong, and they should not have these arrests dogging them for the rest of their lives,” he said.

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Marty Roney at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: A&E’s ‘My Strange Arrest’ to feature segment on Wetumpka ‘cat ladies’