CONWAY, S.C. - A man caught having sex with a horse in a South Carolina stable has been sentenced to three years in prison.
Multiple media outlets report that Rodell Vereen was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty to buggery. A judge also ordered Vereen to get counseling and stay away from the Lazy B stables when he's released.
Authorities charged Vereen, 50, after a woman set up a surveillance camera and caught him on tape having sex with her horse in July. Horse owner Barbara Kenley said she had noticed her 21-year-old horse Sugar was acting strangely. She also noticed things had been moved around near the horse's stall at her stables in Longs, about 20 miles northeast of Myrtle Beach.
She said she staked out the stable and caught Vereen sneaking into the barn days later, holding him at shotgun point until police arrived.
Kenley had seen Vereen before. He pleaded guilty last year to having sex with the same horse and was put on probation and ordered to register as a sex offender.
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, in earlier interviews. The brother lives just down the street from his brother and the stables.
"He's done all right when he was on the medicine. I don't know if he is still taking it," said James Vereen in a July interview.
Horry County police don't often investigate animal sex allegations, spokesman Sgt. Robert Kegler said. He said the last person charged with buggery in the county was Rodell Vereen in late 2007.
Kenley said she caught him then too. She stopped by her stable on Thanksgiving Day and found the man asleep in the hay by her horse.
MSNBC