Pet-Abuse.Com - Animal Abuse Case Details: Dog sexually assaulted

Dog sexually assaulted
Shreveport, LA (US)

Incident Date: Friday, Mar 17, 2006
County: Caddo
Local Map: available
Disposition: Alleged

Alleged: David Bruce Powell

Case Updates: 1 update(s) available

Case ID: 7736

Classification: Bestiality

Animal: dog (non pit-bull)

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Shreveport Police have arrested a man and charged him with an unusual form of animal cruelty. 56-year old David Powell was taken into custody on the afternoon of March 17 at his apartment in downtown Shreveport. Animal control officer Rick Quillen says witnesses say they saw Powell being "unusually affectionate" with a neighbor's dog and saw pictures on Powell's computer of him having sex with the animal. Powell was taken to Caddo Correctional Center and booked on one charge of simple animal cruelty. A misdemeanor. Officers also seized Powell's computer during the arrest. It's now being examined by a expert at the Caddo D.A.'s office. Simple animal cruelty carries a maximum penalty of a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail.

Case Updates

Hiding beneath a small wooden table, lying behind the chair of her owner and covering her snout with a small brown paw, Miss Jefferson is snarling and barking at a stranger.

The dog's nervous growling is interrupted only by the soothing voice of her owner, Marilyn Fisher, who seems almost embarrassed by the commotion.

"She's so skittish," Fisher said, reaching behind the chair to softly massage Miss Jefferson. "She's scared of people she doesn't know now. She never used to be like this."

David Bruce Powell is thought to be the source of the dog's sudden uneasiness among strangers, according to Caddo Parish authorities. Powell was arrested March 17 on a charge of simple animal cruelty, an accusation stemming from witness reports that the man had sex with the dog.

The lurid -- and weird -- details of the alleged assault make an easy punch line for a gruesome case, a very dirty joke to be told around water coolers and in coffee shops throughout the Shreveport area and beyond.

But this has been no laughing matter to Fisher, who now deals with the wrenching guilt of watching her once-friendly pit terrier turn into an often unresponsive and unsociable animal, and certainly to Powell, who has gone into hiding since his embarrassing arrest was caught on television.

"These are things that you never expect a human being to do," said Fisher, choking back tears in her apartment while training an eye on Miss Jefferson. "I can feel what she's going through ... the pain and suffering."

Powell didn't answer the door of his apartment on two separate occasions last weekend, and apparently moved out of the complex shortly thereafter. Attempts to locate him were unsuccessful.

"As far as I know, he's gone," said Jeannie Hudson, manager of the Jefferson Apartments in the 900 block of Louisiana Avenue, where Powell had lived for about a year. "I'm really not supposed to say anything else."

Regardless, Powell will have to make an appearance at his arraignment, which is scheduled for the morning of May 16 at a Caddo Parish District Court.

The peculiar case started after Powell allegedly called the Caddo Parish department of animal services March 12 to pick up an injured, stray dog at the complex, authorities said. Miss Jefferson was taken to the animal shelter, where she stayed until Fisher came to claim her two days later.

Authorities said Fisher retrieved Miss Jefferson from the area for stray animals, wondering whom at her apartment would have called authorities to come get a dog that had always been a sort of mascot to the residents at the Jefferson Apartments.

Fisher lodged a complaint with animal control officers, telling them about an alleged confrontation March 11 between Powell and Hudson, who accused the man of "inappropriate behavior" with the dog.

Authorities confronted Powell with Fisher's complaint a few days later. He had told Fisher and other residents that the dog had been removed because it had bitten a little girl; he later denied telling that story when questioned.

Rick Quillin, a criminal investigator for Caddo Parish Animal Services, said Powell's story seemed unlikely, especially for such a seemingly docile pet. Fisher and other residents also told him the dog had been treated for excessive bleeding from the vaginal area.

"He wanted to get rid of the dog," said Quillin, adding that the dog would have been euthanized had she not been claimed.

"That dog didn't bite nobody. She should've probably bit him."

Authorities returned to Powell's downtown apartment March 17 to arrest him. He was booked into the Caddo Correctional Center and released a day later on a $5,140 bond.

Witnesses told police they saw Powell being "unusually affectionate" with the dog and saw pictures on his computer of him having sex with the animal. Officers seized Powell's computer for examination at the Caddo Parish district attorney's office.

The charge of animal cruelty carries a maximum penalty of a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail. But the charges could be upgraded, Quillin said, depending on what's found on the computer.

"It was borderline crime against nature," Quillin said. "We had to jump the gun (on the arrest) because we were told he was going to get rid of all of his stuff (on the computer)."

Quillin repeatedly emphasized that a thorough investigation by parish authorities could benefit Powell, perhaps proving his innocence.

Daryl Sears, the veterinarian who treated Miss Jefferson at the Animal Health Center in the 6100 block of Hearne Avenue, said he couldn't find any definitive evidence that the dog had been assaulted.

Sears also noted the dog was in heat and was being treated for a transmissible venereal tumor, also known as TVT, which animals can contract through simple physical contact and spread during routine sniffing or other contact.

"We weren't really able to substantiate anything," said Sears, a veterinarian for nearly 20 years. "But this is the first time I've ever been involved in a case like this ... where do you start? We're not exactly trained to look for signs of sexual abuse in a dog."

However, residents at Powell's old complex, which houses mostly elderly, disabled and low-income residents, had long noticed the man's curious behavior with the dog. The 57-year-old man seemingly talked to few of his neighbors, and had even fewer friends.

No one, though, would openly accuse him of having sex with the animal.

"I would see him kiss the dog and put it down," said apartment resident Louis Beals, 72. "That dog came through here bleeding real bad, too. But I don't know nothing about his personal life. I never saw him have sex with the dog or anything."

"He was really friendly with the dog ... he petted it a lot," resident Dewey Brown said. "But you never expect to hear anything like that."

These cases seem rare, the kind of unusual crimes that become quirky items in the news and part of the monologue for late-night TV hosts.

But during one week in early September 2004, two north Louisiana men were charged with crime against nature, accused of having sex with animals.

Timothy Garner was arrested in Florien, a town about 100 miles southeast of Shreveport, for having sex with his neighbor's chickens. Garner was later sentenced to two years of prison.

In West Monroe, Austin Gullette was arrested after his sister told authorities there that she'd caught him having sex with one of her pets, a 125-pound, Vietnamese potbellied pig. He's currently serving a five-year prison sentence.

Quillin, who has worked in animal control for 10 years, said he'd never handled a case of this nature in Caddo Parish until Powell's arrest.

The bizarre nature of these offenses almost guarantees that people will go to great lengths to hide what they're doing, he said.

"I don't think it's as unique as you think it is," Quillin said. "I imagine it goes on all over the country. It's probably one of the most well-kept criminal secrets that there is."

Catherine Destreza, director of statewide enforcement for the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, warned that people who would engage in that sort of behavior with animals might eventually -- if they already haven't -- harm children, too.

"Cruelty to animals oftentimes is a precursor to other more serious offenses," said Destreza, noting that she hadn't worked on a case like this in 15 years.

"The act of having sex with an animal can be a warning sign that there is abuse going on in the house," she said. "A lot of times this is a stepping stone to something else."

One recent example could be that of Joel Yort, 24, of Oil City, who is serving a five-year prison sentence at the Madison Detention Center in Tallulah after pleading guilty to a felony charge of aggravated cruelty to animals. He was accused of shooting his uncle's dog in the nose more than 20 times with an air rifle; the dog survived the attack.

Just a few months before, Yort had finished probation following a conviction for second-degree cruelty to a juvenile. He and his girlfriend, Julie Ann Washburn, had been shaking their 3-month-old baby so they could sleep at night. The child suffered shaken baby syndrome and head trauma, and was later placed in state custody.

"What people are starting to realize is that animal cruelty investigations are proactive law enforcement," Quillin said. "If we can get people that get animals before they can get to a child, then I feel we've done our job."

Since retrieving her dog from the shelter, Fisher has been scrambling to raise the money needed to treat the dog's potentially fatal tumor. In addition to Miss Jefferson's ailments, Fisher suffers from thyroid cancer, diabetes and is physically disabled, putting a strain on the little money she earns as a church's assistant.

Sears said Miss Jefferson has already received one chemotherapy treatment. But the dog will need at least three more treatments, requiring at least $300 or $400, Fisher said.

Almost as difficult as raising the money, Fisher said, has been trying to make her formerly approachable pet comfortable around strangers again.

"She's scared of people she doesn't know now," Fisher said. "It's going to take her awhile to get her confidence back."

And with that, Miss Jefferson resumed growling at the stranger in her apartment. It was time to go.

Source: Shreveport Times - April 9, 2006
Update posted on Apr 9, 2006 - 7:38PM

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References

	KTBS - March 18, 2006
	The Shreveport Times - May 18, 2006

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Dog sexually assaultedShreveport, LA (US)

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Dog sexually assaulted
Shreveport, LA (US)