The simple answer is "yes" people still have sex with animals, and sometimes they get caught. A South Carolina man was arrested for having sex with a horse after the horse's owner caught him on videotape. This was not the first time Rodell Vereen has been arrested for having sex with Barbara Kenley's horse Sugar.
He pleaded guilty last year to having sex with Sugar after Kenley found him in the same stable on Thanksgiving Day 2007. At that time Vereen was sentenced to probation and placed on the state's sex offender list.
Kenley said that several weeks ago she noticed 21-year-old Sugar acting strange and getting infections again. She also noticed things in the barn being moved around when she was not there. Dirt would be piled up and bales of hay stacked near the horse's stall at her Lazy B Stables about 20 miles from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Kenley spent several nights at the stables, which are about four miles from her home, but didn't see anything unusual. Then, she installed surveillance cameras, and the tapes from July 19 showed Vereen again having sex with Sugar.
Kenley didn't call police. Instead, she staked out the barn and caught him on the night of July 27. Coming out of hiding with her shotgun, Kenley chased Vereen back to his truck and held him captive with her shotgun until police came.
Vereen, 50, was initially charged with trespassing, but police added a buggery charge after watching the surveillance tape. He faces up to five years if convicted. He was already on probation after pleading guilty to buggery last year when he was sentenced to three years of probation, ordered to stay away from the Lazy B Stables and declared a sex offender. He remains in jail awaiting a hearing.
Vereen has had mental problems for several years, but seemed to get better after getting court-ordered treatment last year, said his brother, the Rev. James Vereen.
"He's done all right when he was on the medicine. I don't know if he is still taking it," said Rev. Vereen.
Kenley said she caught Vereen the first time he did this when she stopped by her stable on Thanksgiving and found him asleep in the hay by her horse, who had a mound of dirt and a stool behind her. Kenley also said she thought about shooting Vereen both times, but decided to call the police instead because she didn't want to go to prison. Her comment,
"Everyone around here has horses. And they all said the same thing. You should have shot him."
Is "everyone" wealthy white people or do less affluent people of various races who don't own horses also live in South Carolina? Clearly this is a man with serious mental problems. He is also black and the horse owner is a white woman whose "neighbors all agree" that shooting a black man in the South is still OK.
Vereen needs to be in a mental facility not a jail, but those in charge in South Carolina believe that justice is being served. Vereen is not a cleaver criminal. He is a man almost looking to get caught, but people in South Carolina want to murder him for an act that caused no harm to another human. Perhaps it's time for some Christian charity and forgiveness.
May we all have compassion for the suffering of others. And may we recognize opportunities to offer forgiveness and help in times when revenge may be the first thing that comes to mind.
