LOUISIANA -- The former mayor of Sorrento already facing 40 counts of child porn charges was booked last week on additional charges of animal cruelty based on evidence that he allegedly tortured cats on camera.
Images and video taken from the house where Wilson Longanecker Jr. was staying show what state and Ascension Parish investigators believe to be the suspect using duct tape, shoelaces and his hands to bind, choke, blindfold and injure five different cats.
The cats, in separate images or videos, appear to have blood coming from their eyes, ears, noses and mouths. Investigators believe one cat's leg might have been broken and other images show cats with fur ripped from their skin.
According to an affidavit of arrested provided by the Louisiana Attorney General's Office, the images and videos were captured between Oct. 8, 2012, and Jan. 9, 2014, a span of time during which Longanecker served mayor of the town 30 miles southeast of Baton Rouge.
The evidence was discovered during the execution of a search warrant at Longanecker's house related to the child pornography investigation.
His recent arrest on Dec. 29 was on charges of three counts of aggravated animal cruelty and four courts of simple animal cruelty. His initial arrest on Oct. 23, 2014, stemmed from charges of violating a state law forbidding a person to produce, distribute, possess, or possess with the intent to distribute pornography involving juveniles. Longanecker was also charged at the time with obstruction of justice.
"Several electronic devises" were recovered with the search warrant, the affidavit says. It describes the following images or videos, which correspond to the seven animal cruelty counts:
Aggravated animal cruelty counts:
-Images from Oct. 8, 2012, allegedly show a cat with its fur ripped off and blood coming from its nose and mouth.
-Video from Jan. 5, 2013, allegedly shows several cats with blood coming from their ears, mouth and noses. Longanecker can allegedly be heard calling a cat "skanky ass" as he tosses the bleeding animal across a bed.
-Video from Jan. 9, 2013, allegedly shows "what appears to be a cat's leg being broken," the affidavit says. An orange and white cat appears to be picked up by Longanecker and taken off camera, where "and audible breaking sound can be heard followed by what sound(s) like a distressed cat meowing."
The cat is then tossed on the floor in front of the camera, "where it can clearly be seen having difficulty walking."
Simple animal cruelty counts:
- Images from Oct. 8, 2012, allegedly show a cat being choked around its neck by hand and by a shoelace. Duct tape was wrapped around the cat's mouth, nose and throat.
- Images from Oct. 9, 2012, allegedly show a cat with all four of its legs duct-taped together. The cat's fur is ripped off and its face bloodied.
- Other images from Oct. 9, 2012 allegedly show a cat with duct tape wrapped around its mouth, nose and eyes.
- A video from Jan. 6, 2013, allegedly slows a cat falling off a dresser as it attempts to walk across it while blindfolded by duct tape.
Louisiana Attorney General's Office spokeswoman Laura Gerdes said in an email the Ascension Parish District Attorney Ricky Babin's office is now handling the case.
Office of the Attorney General's Cyber Crime Unit investigated the case, which started as an undercover investigation, along with investigators with the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office, Homeland Security and Louisiana Department of Justice.
Prior to his booking on the new animal cruelty charges, Longanecker had remained incarcerated at the parish jail on a $1 million bond.
He was elected mayor of Sorrento in 2011 and served until 2013.
Earlier:
(Times Picayune - Jan 6, 2015)
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