Wednesday, Nov. 04, 2009

Horry County man who had sex with horse sentenced to 3 years in jail

A Longs man was sentenced to three years in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to a charge related to having sexual intercourse with a Conway woman’s horse.

Rodell Vereen, 50, was charged in July with buggery and trespassing after the woman found him in her barn at Lazy B Stables in the Wampee community of Horry County, police said. The woman held him by pointing a shotgun at him until police arrived.

Judge Larry Hyman also sentenced Vereen to three years in prison for violating his probation relating to another buggery charge from a 2007 incident.

The sentences will run concurrently.

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

Hyman sentenced Vereen to five years in prison on the latest buggery charge, but suspended it to three years in prison and two years of probation.

Vereen also was ordered to undergo mental health treatment once he is released from jail and was told not to go near Lazy B Stables.

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

The woman told police she caught Vereen having sex with a 21-year-old female horse named Sugar. She told officers she had video of Vereen ``having relations'' with one of her horses on July 19, according to a police report.

Hyman said this morning that Vereen was competent to take part in a plea.

But it is the second time Vereen, who works for a landscaping company, has been charged with having sex with a horse at Lazy B Stables.

Vereen pleaded guilty to buggery on July 21, 2008, and was sentenced to three years probation, ordered to undergo mental health counseling, and told not to go near Lazy B Stables after he was caught having sex with a horse on Thanksgiving Day of 2007, according to the 15th Judicial Circuit.

Vereen has also been registered as a sex offender since pleading to the buggery charge last year, according to the State Law Enforcement Division.