It seems so...ordinary...for South Carolina.



Man jailed again for having sex with horse
By Graeme Moore
Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at 12:25 a.m.

Horry County Police arrested a Longs man early Tuesday morning on
charges that he had sex with a horse. This is the second time he's been
arrested for this.

Rodell Vereen, 50, is charged with trespassing and buggery, a felony
classified as an "offense against morality."

The story begins at Lazy B Stables, a quiet horse farm that Barbara
Kenley calls her retreat.

"This is supposed to be my enjoyment, my serenity, my peace of mind out
here. This is where I come to get away from everything," Kenley told
NewsChannel 15 in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.

But Kenley's tranquil respite fell apart near the end of 2007 when she
discovered a man had been having sex with her horse. What was once a
place for enjoyment turned into a place of disbelief and disgust.

"He's totally destroyed that. For a whole year and a half, I've been
destroyed."

Kenley first stumbled upon Rodell Vereen in a horse stall on
Thanksgiving Day in 2007. She described seeing her horse, Sugar,
standing in the stall with Rodell sleeping above on some hay. She called
police, but it turned out to be more than a simple trespassing.

According to a police report taken that November day, Vereen admitted to
police he was there to have sex with the horse and had been there
several times in the previous months.

"I don't know how to explain to you the sick feeling," Kenley said as
she recalled the first time she found out.

After the initial encounter, Kenley said her horse got infections that
required veterinary attention.

In July 2008, Vereen pleaded guilty to buggery. A judge sentenced him to
three months probation and required him to undergo mental evaluation, to
register as a sex offender, and to stay away from Lazy B Stables.

The sentence was little comfort to Kenley.

"Every night going to bed (I was) thinking 'is that man out there with
my animals? What is he doing to my horse?' I just couldn't sleep."

In the months that followed Vereen's conviction, Kenley began suspecting
Vereen had come back. She would find bails of hay stacked in a stall,
and Sugar continued getting infections. She would spend some nights at
the farm watching, but saw nothing.

"When I (would) come to feed the next morning that I hadn't sat out here
(and) waited for him, and she'd been molested again, it was devastating."

While she suspected it was happening again, she didn't have the solid
proof, and police couldn't make an arrest. They needed more, so Kenley
installed surveillance cameras.

On July 19, Kenley got what she needed, an hour and a half long taping
of who police say is Vereen having sexual intercourse with the horse.

However, Kenley didn't take the evidence directly to police. Instead,
she wanted to wait until he came back and catch him red-handed -- which
is exactly what police say happened early Tuesday morning.

Just after midnight, police say Kenley found Vereen running from the
stall and chased him with a shotgun and cornered him until police
arrived. They again charged him with trespassing and buggery.

"He didn't resist or fight back or deny. Now he did keep apologizing to
me. He said 'if I hurt you ma'am, I'm sorry.'"

Kenley said she slept soundly for the first time that night. On Tuesday
evening, as she left her horses, she hoped for a more peaceful future at
Lazy B Stables.

"I'd like to see him get some help, but I'd also like him kept behind
bars when he's getting help. I don't want him out. I don't want to have
to worry about him coming out to my place."

According to the 15th Judicial Circuit Solicitor's Office, Vereen could
spend five years in prison if convicted of buggery.

On Tuesday in court, Vereen pleaded guilty to the trespassing charge and
was fined $250. As for the buggery charge, the judge set his bail at
$10,000.

www.carolinalive.com

--
Whatever moral rules you have proposed, abide by them as they were laws,
and as if you would be guilty of impiety by violating any of them,
*unless* you are a conservative Republican office holder or minister. If
that is your position in life, then anything goes.