Horse Lover Sentenced

Erick Rivera, 18, of Goshen, NY known as "The Horse Romancer” was arrested in December 2009. At the time of his arrest he admitted to police that he repeatedly had sex with horses in their stables, located across the street from where he lived. But as he stood before Orange County Court Judge Robert Freehill there was no mention of either horses or sex. Instead, he pleaded guilty to third-degree burglary, a felony, and Freehill granted him youthful offender treatment, which seals the court record. He had originally been charged with a felony burglary count and two misdemeanors – sexual misconduct with an animal and petit larceny.

The case sparked outrage among animal lovers nationwide, who sent cut-and-paste e-mails urging that Freehill impose a harsh sentence. But the stiffest charge allowable in New York for sex with an animal is sexual misconduct, a misdemeanor. Prosecutors insisted he plead to the more serious burglary charge.

Rivera has been held in the county jail since his arrest. Judge Robert Freehill sentenced Rivera to 90 days in the county jail and five years’ probation for burglarizing the Goshen Historic Track last year. His lawyer, Gary Abramson of the Orange County Legal Aid Society, said Rivera will move to New York City to live with his sister when he’s released from jail. His probation will be supervised by New York City authorities.

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Ex-Boyfriend Gets Woman Raped

Jebidiah James Stipe, 27, from Carbon, Wyo. broke up with his 25-year-old girlfriend but he was far from finished with her. In fact he hatched a scheme that would eventually make her life a living hell; destroy the life of not-so-innocent Ty Oliver McDowell, 26, from Bar Nunn, Wyo.; involve Craigslist in another scandal; give prosecutors a headache and the general public an insight into the depravity of a sick, conniving, malicious individual. 

This all began after Jebidiah Stipe, a Marine stationed at Twentynine Palms, Calif., broke up with his girlfriend from Casper Wyo. He then posted an ad in the "adult services" section of Craigslist, pretending to be his girlfriend. The ad said:

"Need a real aggressive man with no concern for women"

Stipe also included the woman's picture and personal information. The ad remained on Craigslist for two days before the ex-girlfriend saw it. She contacted the Natrona County Sheriff's Office, complaining that someone had posted a false Craigslist ad about her. She also complained to Craigslist, which took down the ad. But the damage had already been done.

The ad was spotted by Ty Oliver McDowell, a medical technologist, employed at the Wyoming Medical Center's radiology department. He e-mailed a response to the address given in the ad and began corresponding with whom he thought was a woman, but was really Jebidiah Stipe.

During the exchange of messages, Stipe, posing as his ex-girlfriend, explained exactly what "she" wanted - "humiliation, physical abuse, sexual abuse" - and gave Ty McDowell his ex-girlfriend's address. 

Taking this for an invitation, Ty McDowell went to the woman's house. When she answered the door he said "I'll show you aggressive," and immediately began to assault her. He forced her into the living room and bound, blindfolded and gagged the 25-year-old woman. Then he raped her as he pressed a knife to her throat.

Later, he told detectives he thought he was fulfilling her rape fantasy.

McDowell was arrested and charged with first-degree sexual assault, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated burglary. Stipe was also arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree sexual assault.

According to a Marine Corps spokeswoman, Jebidiah James Stipe - a maintenance mechanic who had enlisted in the Marines in 2001 - was in the process of being ejected for an undisclosed pattern of misconduct at the time of his arrest. Documents related to Stipe's arrest have been sealed.

Craigslist has also come under fire for allowing the ad to be placed on its site. "Although Craigslist officials had cooperated with the investigation, the fact that they published sexually suggestive ads also facilitated the crime" said Natrona County Dist. Atty. Mike Blonigen:

"If I were king, I'd like to see them not run these personal ads," he said. "This is a debate we've had for a long time: . . . Do we censor the Internet?"

Steve Patterson, a spokesman for the Cook County sheriff who had sued Craigslist before, said the website wasn't blameless:

By hosting an adult services forum, "they create this specific place for criminal activity to take place," he said.

Craigslist had no comment on the case. But Federal law protects Internet sites from liability for their users' actions, said M. Ryan Calo, residential fellow at Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society.

"The idea was that these website platforms were truly communities assembled of random users, with no editorial control over what users were doing. Craigslist is like a hotel with millions of rooms, but it doesn't have the ability to figure out what's happening in those rooms," Calo said.

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Noisy Sex Gets Woman in Trouble

Caroline Cartwright, 48, really enjoys having sex with her husband, Steve, just ask her neighbors how enthusiastic she can be. Caroline is a screamer and she doesn't care who hears her. After hundreds of complaints from the neighbors and passers-by (even the local postman and a woman taking her child to school complained about the levels of noise) she was ordered by the court to stop disturbing the peace under an anti-social behavior order (ASBO).

It was an order she broke at least three times in just 10 days, landing her in jail and back in court. Caroline just can't understand what all the fuss is about.

"I did not understand why people asked me to be quiet because to me it is normal," she said. I have tried to minimize the situation by having sex in the morning - not at night - so the noise was not waking anybody," Cartwright noted.

After a series of complaints, the local council's Environmental Health department placed recording equipment in a neighbor's apartment. The neighbor, Rachel O’Connor, pressed a button on the machine every time she was disturbed by noise from next door.  In the subsequent 23 recordings that were made - through a soundproofed wall - and played to the court, the sound of slapping and screaming was clearly audible.

“I heard sounds of a sexual nature, they were really loud, and there was a lot of moaning and groaning and screaming as if in pain. It wasn’t just the woman, it came from both parties,” said Rachel O’Connor.

The equipment recorded noise levels of 30-40 decibels, peaking at 47 - as loud as a conversation in the same room. The 48-year-old Caroline acknowledged she made noises, but wasn't aware how loud she had been. The judge, in giving her a break, said she had not tried hard enough to refrain from making excessive noise.

"It's quite clear from the small extract I heard that you made no attempt to silence yourself," the judge said.

He stressed that if she disturbed her neighbors again with her sexual sounds, she would spend eight weeks in jail.

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Another Horse Lover

71-Year-Old David Chamberlin of Middlesbrough in England loved horses, I mean he really loved horses. Since he didn't own one himself, he decided to visit a horse in a nearby field. While there, he was discovered in a compromising position by the owner. The following facts were presented at court:

‘The witness was shaken and disgusted by what he saw,’ prosecutor Noelle Brockbank told Teesside Magistrates’ Court.

What the owner saw was his horse's head in David Chamberlin's groin, in the process of committing a sex act. That was when all hell broke loose.

‘He picked up a stick and struck the defendant. That startled the horse, causing it to run off, dragging the defendant with it.’

Unable to offer an excuse for his actions, Chamberlin’s solicitor, Alex Bousfield, said:

‘Mr Chamberlin cannot explain what happened. He didn’t know how to account for that behaviour.’

Chamberlin admitted outraging public decency by committing a lewd act and was handed a 24-month community order. He was also given a sexual offences prevention order – which means he cannot have unsupervised contact with anyone under 18 and is banned from owning or being around animals unsupervised.

Chairman of the bench John Meredith said Chamberlin caused stress to the ‘owner and the animal itself’.

This case also brings to mind another horse-lover, Rodell Vereen from Longs, S.C. who carried on a love affair with a 21-year-old horse named Sugar. He was caught twice having sex with the same horse, by the owner, Barbara Kenley. The first time he received probation and had to register as a sex offender.

The second time he was given 3 years in jail and 2 years probation. He apologized to the woman and to himself after admitting to buggery at the Horry County courthouse.

"I'm sorry about what I've done. I didn't mean to do it. It's my fault. I'm sorry for what I've done to myself," Vereen said during the court hearing.

The judge sentenced Vereen to five years in prison, but he will only have to serve three years behind bars as long as he successfully completes two years of probation. Vereen also was ordered to undergo additional mental treatment after he gets out of prison and was told to stay away from Kenley's stable.

Kenley said she was mostly happy with the verdict, but wished Vereen had got more prison time.

"I've been through hell for the last year and it's caused a lot of hardship," Kenley told the newspaper. "There's a lot of ridicule and jokes going around about this thing. And a person can only take so much."

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