William Rabourn, 23, is charged with burglary and stealing an animal after he was arrested around midnight last Saturday. He is not charged with animal abuse or animal cruelty or killing the dog.
Springfield police say Rabourn admitted he got in an argument with Gabriel Ervie, and she then left him at a gas station while she continued a trip with a group of people on a party bus. According to the probable cause statement against him, Rabourn told a detective that he then went to Ervie’s apartment to get his keys so he could get home. The detective “asked him how the dog came into the story and he asked to speak with his attorney.”
Here’s what happened before Rabourn was arrested, according to the probable cause statement:
A woman who lives in an apartment building at 915 E. Elm St. called 9-1-1 after she heard loud banging in the hallway. She opened her door and saw a man kicking and hitting the door to Ervie’s apartment. She says the man told her that people in Ervie’s apartment “were about to buy drugs and asked her to call the police.”
The witness then saw the man kick in the door and go inside. He then came out of the apartment holding a small white dog. She was already on the phone with a 9-1-1 call taker, whom she told what she was seeing. She said she then saw the man walk down the hallway to the stairs, reach the landing, which has an open window, and “he threw the dog overhand out of the open window. He then took off running down the stairs and out of the front door.”
The woman was able to point out to an MSU security officer where the man was, leading to the arrest of Rabourn about a block away near Juanita K. Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts.
An officer later talked to Ervie, who said Oliver, her malti-poo, was about 8 months old. She told the officer that she paid about $600 for him. The officer said Ervie admitted to “a casual romantic relationship with (Rabourn) for approximately 3 months,” according to the probable cause statement.
Ervie said she and Rabourn were on the party bus and she rejected his sexual advances. She said the bus stopped at a gas station and Rabourn went inside to buy something. Ervie said her friends then told her that “Rabourn was trying to hit on them.” When Rabourn returned to the bus, Ervie said she told him “she didn’t want to hang out with him anymore and that she also did not want to talk with him.”
The bus then left Rabourn behind at the gas station. Ervie told police that Rabourn tried to call and text her numerous times but she didn’t respond.
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| William Rabourn III |
An officer reviewed the text messages and voice mail messages on Ervie’s phone. The officer said “the most notable voicemail left by Rabourn” was at 11:29 p.m. and said “I’m about to **** your life up forever.” That was about 30 minutes before the witness heard a man banging on her neighbor’s door.
A police officer measured the distance from the stairway landing window to the sidewalk where the dog died. He found it is 46.4 feet.
If Rabourn is convicted, he could face a prison sentence up to seven years for burglary and up to four years for stealing the dog. He posted a $15,000 bond and is scheduled to be back in court for a motions hearing on July 28.
[Isn't it telling that our society punishes this guy more severely when you only look at the dog as PROPERTY... he faces more time in prison for burglary and theft. In most states and probably this one too, the punishment for the horrific death this little dog suffered is so laughable that the DA's office didn't even bother to charge him with aggravated cruelty to animals.]
(KY3 - Aug 6, 2014)
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