By John Estridge
A Franklin County man pleaded guilty to Cruelty to a Vertebrate Animal in Franklin Circuit Court II recently.
Trevor Bowling, 18, pleaded guilty as a class A misdemeanor, and was sentenced to 365 days in the Franklin County Security Center with all time suspended to probation. He was fined $250 and $185 costs as well as being charged with probation costs.
According to information from the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office, Bowling and two 17-year-old male juveniles found a raccoon in a garbage can, beat it with bats and golf clubs and then shoved a metal bar through the raccoon’s neck. They filmed all of it and posted it to snapchat.
Some people seeing the video reported it to Indiana Conservation Officers. ICO Travis Stewart investigated the accusation, and the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office filed the charge against Bowling as he is an adult.
Franklin County Prosecutor Chris Huerkamp said Bowling took the video, and one of the juveniles appears to be the main instigator. However, Bowling did not do anything to stop the cruelty to the animal.
Huerkamp said Bowling and the juveniles told police they thought the raccoon was rabid, were scared of it and lashed out at it. However, Huerkamp said it appears the trio did what they did slowly and strangely and videotaped it.
A class A misdemeanor was the only available charge, Huerkamp said. A felony can be charged if the individual has a prior conviction of animal cruelty or the cruelty is part of a larger, threatening event to an individual or a group of people.
According to Huerkamp, he requested the Franklin County Probation Office do an investigation of the juveniles. He has not heard back from the probation office as of the date of the interview.