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M Jenny Edwards © 2018

Research, Laws, & Case Updates

MARCH, 2018

Highlights from March:

In Alaska, a 36-year-old man was arrested for sexually abusing multiple children and a female dog. As in every parent's worst nightmare, Phillip Kiser bribed the little girls with candy and asked them to pose nude for him. A search warrant of Kiser's home returned more than a thousand images of child and animal pornography, including multiple videos of Kiser having sex with the children and intercourse with the dog. About 30% of animal sex abusers also sexually victimize children.

In Arkansas, a cop was arrested for possession of child pornography in 2015. What started as an internal investigation, and led to Dustin O'Dell's resignation, has taken two years to come to trial. O'Dell, 32 at the time of his arrest, took his laptop in for repairs, and the technician discovered images of child porn. O'Dell initially blamed his sister, but she says she found floppy disks in the attic and was curious as to what was on them. O'Dell's scheduled for a pre-trial hearing on April 5, with a jury trial scheduled to begin April 24.

Illinois defendants William Ashby and Aaron Beauchamp decided to forego a jury trial and pleaded guilty to possession of a minor depicted in a sexually explicit conduct. The men were arrested after Beauchamp forced his dog to engage in a sex act with a 16 year-old boy who was passed out. He then posted the pics on SnapChat. Ashby then posted the image on Facebook. Beauchamp also filmed Ashby -who has priors for larceny, drugs, and aggravated battery - attemping or pretending to have sex with the boy. Mercer County, IL initially filed child pornography charges against both men, but those charges were dropped and Ashby and Beauchamp were indicted on federal charges. Terms of the plea agreement are sealed, but could involve sentences up to 5 years in federal prison.

Indiana handled multiple cases involve animal sexual abuse during March. Keylin Johnson and his wife Sheila were arrested in Lagoda on charges of incest, bestiality, child molestation, child exploitation, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Keylin told the kids that incest was normal and the best way to build family unity was to have sex with your mother. Sheila, meanwhile, was having sex with the family dog. She blamed alcohol for causing her to "behave in a sexual manner".

Patrick Kavanaugh, 32 from South Bend was sentenced to 5 years supervised release for downloading child porn; some of the images involved bestiality with infants.

A Fort Wayne firefighter, 48 year-old Michael Moring was arrested and charged with stalking after sending a woman personalized text messages with pornography images including a man masturbating, and a dog giving oral to a woman. Moring seemed to know a lot of personal details about the woman - her nickname, details about her house, what kind of dog she had - and it was later discovered that he had done some interior painting on her home to supplement his income as a firefighter.

A Louisiana man was sentenced to nine years for possession of child pornography involving bestiality, bondage, and violence. Darrell Ricks, 66 told officers his preference was for little girls around the age of 7 and that he had been collecting child porn for about three years. Ricks was originally arrested in 2016.

In Minnesota, a mailman took a little too long to deliver a package, and was caught on surveillance cam having sex with the homeowner's dog. Brian Louis George L. Chapman, 22 was arrested in February, 2017 and charged with burglary and bestiality. This month he took a plea deal that allows him to stay out of jail. Chapman was initially facing 10 years on the burglary charge and 90 days on the bestiality charge, but the judge gave him 10 years' probation and dropped the bestiality charge altogether. Conditions of his probation are that he perform 40 hours of community service, and have no contact with the victimized famiy or their dog. This case is similar to a Washington case in which a UPS driver was sentenced to 3 years after admitting to an unknown number of sexual assaults on animals along his route.

In Ohio Scott Turner, 48 was given 5 years' probation for on aggravated charges of having sex with an animal. Misdemeanor bestiality normally carries a 90-day sentence, but Turner - who has prior convictions for child sexual assault - planned to share his prison lover with a dog once he could get the money, find a dog, and his lover was released. To spice things up even further, Turner planned to have a male teen film the act.

In another Ohio case, firefighter and EMT Travis Dick was arrested on 19 charges involving a 13-year-old girl. Dick not only had "inappropriate" sexual contact with her, but pressured her to send illicit photos to him and another man. During a search of Dick's cellphone, officers found bestiality videos and online searches for "incest".

In Oregon, law enforcement has been busy busting bestiality offenders. Early in the month, Terry Mackie was arrested in Portland after officers received an anonymous tip that Mackie liked to wear diapers and have sex with dogs.  About a week after Mackie's arrest, Linn County deputies arrested Mark McKuhn, a registered sex offender, who was caught soliciting minors online to perform sex acts including bestiality. At the end of the month, Johnnie Ray Martinez was arrested for filming acts of bestiality and posting them on the internet. Martinez has previously been arrested for reckless endangerment, assault, and drug possession.

A Pennsylvania attorney, and local animal shelter volunteer, Ivan Devoren was arrested last month after his neighbor turned him for repeatedly having sex with his dog Snoopy, a 6 month-old yellow Lab. In addition to being charged with 10 counts of aggravated animal cruelty, 10 counts of bestiality, and 4 counts of drug possession, Devoren is facing charges in a separate case for discharging a weapon inside the apartment building. During that investigation, officers found two weapons, ammunition, holsters, and three crack pipes.

In another highly publicized case in Pennsylvania, Jeffrey Harvey got 20 months to 5 years for internet solitation of boys for sex. Harvey was not involved in bestiality, but led officers to several other defendants who were involved in repeated sexual assault of boy who waas 9 years old at the time. That case is very complicated involving two men involved in bestiality, three men involved in furry fandom, and three men and two women accused of using the 9 year-old boy for sexual purposes.

A South Dakota man was arrested last year for having sex with a 4-week-old calf belonging to a local farmer. Upon investigation, James Schumacher, 56 was charged with six counts of bestiality after it was discovered he had had sex with another calf several months earlier. Under SD law, each count is punishable by up to 2 years in prison, and a $4,000 fine. In February, Schumacher's attorney argued the law was unconstitutional because animals are considered property, however, in March the attorneys agreed that the sex acts occurred on property he doesn't own, with animals that are not his. Schumacher asked for a bench trial (i.e. no jury will be impaneled) which is currently scheduled for July.

An Oak Ridge, Tennessee man was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for possession of child pornography depicting bondage, bestiality, and the rape of toddlers. This is twice the penalty received this month by Darrell Ricks in a similar case in Louisiana.

Harris County, Texas deputy sheriff, Andrew Sustaita, Jr. was conivicted in March on child pornograhy charges stemming from a bestiality arrest in January. Sustaita came under scrutiny after posting a picture of himself having sex with a small dog on a "pay-for-play" website. Because Texas' bestiality law had not passed at the time of Sustaita's arrest, he was initally charged with producing pornography. During a forensic examination of Sustaita's laptop, however, investigators found 200 images of child porn, along with pictures of a young relative in various stages of undress. Sustaita's sentencing hearing is scheduled for June, when he will face a mandatory minimum of 15-30 years for exploitation, and an addtional 10 years for producing pornography.

After passing both Senate and House judicial committees, Wisconsin legislators failed to schedule a bill for a final vote that would make bestiality a felony in that state. Citizens, animal welfare advocates, and even legislators who invested hundreds of hours preparing for the vote, were quite upset. And, as luck would have it, two new cases presented themselves after the legislative session closed for the year. James Uzerath, 18 was picked up on truancy charges for sneaking out of school with another boy to smoke cigarettes. Uzerath consented to a search of his school-issued iPad, where officers found numerous child porn images, nearly half of which involved bestiality.