 Goats stabbed to death at high school
Olathe, CO (US)Incident Date: Friday, Feb 24, 2006
County: Montrose
Local Map: available
Disposition: Convicted
Charges: Misdemeanor
Abuser/Suspect: Nicholas Scott
Case Updates: 2 update(s) available |
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A police investigation is under away after two Angora goats were discovered dead of apparent stab wounds Feb. 24 at the Olathe High School.
Hector Lara, who owns the animals, said he used them to keep a field and ditch free of grasses and weeds. He discovered the goats missing the night of Feb. 23, after he went to check on them. The goats were found the next day near the high school bleachers dead, with multiple puncture wounds.
Olathe Police Investigator Ric Hawk said his department was contacted about the incident and has developed suspects. Hawk said that contrary to rumors said to be circulating through Olathe, the goats were not discovered inside the gymnasium.
He eventually spoke with a neighbor who said he saw two young teenage boys walking the goats.
Lara said he looked around the school for the goats Feb. 24, which caused a school representative to question him. Once he told the official about the goats, the man told Lara the animals were near the bleachers at the high school.
�He said, �I think we have them,�� Lara said.
Upon first examination of the animals, Lara thought the goats had been shot, but police investigators determined the animals were stabbed.
Montrose School County District Re-1J spokeswoman Linda Gann said the district is looking into the killings
Hawk said if the suspects are arrested, they can be charged with theft, criminal trespass and aggravated cruelty to an animal, a class-4 felony. Case UpdatesAn 18-year-old Olathe man pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty in the stabbing death of two Angora goats.
Nicholas Scott was arrested in July and charged with aggravated animal cruelty, a felony 6, and misdemeanor theft. He and a juvenile male allegedly stole the goats from a homeowner in Olathe and stabbed the animals, leaving the bodies at the Olathe High School football field.
Hector Lara owned the goats and used the animals to graze in ditches and fields near his Olathe home. He noticed the goats were missing on Feb. 23 and went looking for the animals. He eventually found the animals and believed they had been shot.
Police later determined the goats were stabbed.
�It makes me sick,� Lara said back in February about discovering the animals.
Lara reported the incident and the Olathe Police Department launched an investigation. The crime alarmed many residents in the small, farming community.
With the plea bargain, Scott avoids a felony conviction and had the theft charge dropped.
Sentencing was set for Jan. 22. | Source: Montrose Daily Press - Dec 1, 2006
Update posted on Dec 4, 2006 - 11:24AM |
A suspect has been identified in an incident that left two pet goats dead. The Olathe Police Department sought summonses for Nicholas Scott, 18, of Olathe and an unidentified juvenile earlier this month. Scott�s summons, alleged he �unlawfully, feloniously and knowingly tortured, needlessly mutilated or needlessly killed� two goats belonging to Olathe resident Hector Lara Feb. 23 or 24, 2006. He stands accused of aggravated cruelty to animals as a class-6 felony and misdemeanor theft. He is due in court at 10 a.m. July 20, 2006.
Olathe Acting Police Chief Ric Hawk said Scott�s name had come up during the investigation into the incident and this information had been pursued as a lead. Scott�s court file did not contain more specific information about his alleged involvement in the goats� deaths. �It�s a relief,� Hawk said of the summons being served. �Now we can just do the court process.� Lara was not at home and couldn�t be reached for comment. His daughter, Yvonne Muzzy, said Lara had been upset and worried about the incident. �I hope he�ll be more at ease now,� she said.
Denver-area prosecutor Diane Balkin, an expert on animal cruelty issues, said the Olathe allegations distinguished themselves from crimes of a similar nature. �There were more than one victim-animals,� she said. �The fact that they were killed, as opposed to injured, elevates it. Stabbing is pretty intimate. It�s up close and personal. It sounds like there was nothing in the temperament of these goats to cause them to act in such a manner that this type of violence would be warranted.� Balkin visited Montrose in January 2006 to head a forum that dealt with the �link� between animal abuse and other crimes of violence. At the time, she said animal cruelty � defined under statute as physical abuse, neglect, keeping more animals than can be cared for and abandonment � had led to the deaths of 62 percent of known animal-victims nationwide. Of those deaths, an estimated 18 percent occurred among livestock.
The judicial system should take note of cruelty cases, Balkin said. �It�s a wake-up call. They need to recognize the connection that violence on this level could well lead to violence against a human. I would stress it�s a public safety issue, not an animal welfare issue. | Source: Montrose Press - June 23, 2006
Update posted on Jun 25, 2006 - 6:51PM |
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