ARKANSAS -- The animal rescue community is in shock over one man's arrest involving bestiality.
Jonathan Ford of Hattieville, Ark. was arrested on Wednesday for sexually abusing an animal.
Animal rescuers have been scrambling for details since the sheriff in Pope County announced Ford had been charged with Bestiality. According to animal shelter workers in the area, Ford had been acting as his own animal rescue organization, attempting to take in various animals.
"We kind of stay away from people like that, so we didn't really get into his business and into his rescue," said Clarissa Riedmueller, who is the owner of KC Pet Rescue in Morrilton. She was contacted by Ford twice over Facebook in the last six months.
"He actually comes across as a different person," said Riedmueller. Without any additional information, Ford asked if he could take in some of her rescue dogs.
"He was always out to get any kind of dog very quickly. He didn't ask a lot of the normal rescue questions that we would, what's their temperament, things like that," said Riedmueller.
Instead, Ford didn't ask any questions at all.
"He was just going 'Hey I'll take and help. I'll help.' I like the part that he was trying to help, it's just not knowing what he was doing behind the scenes. He just seemed a little different," said Riedmueller.
That hesitation and feeling is why Riedmueller is not very surprised by the news of his arrest. "But I was sickened about someone calling themselves a rescue, then doing something like that," said Riedmueller.
The Pope County Sheriff's Office arrested Ford on Wednesday, June 10. In a release sent out on Friday, June 12, they say he allegedly engaged in a sexual act with an animal. They charged him with a Class A misdemeanor and removed the animal in question from his care.
Riedmueller says she tried to help take any animals Ford had, but they had already gone somewhere else.
"I think the one that ended up with it was the one in Jonesboro that has most of the animals right now," said Riedmueller.
She says something like this hurts all rescues and their animals. "A lot of people will take a second thought about rescuing animals or helping rescues when this happens," said Riedmueller.
THV11 reached out to the Jonesboro shelter that allegedly took the animals at Ford's house, but they didn't respond.
The Pope County Sheriff's Office is investigating the case and says more charges are possible.
(THV11 - June 15, 2015)
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