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Teens accused in alpaca beating could be tried as adults

Rebecca Hardin stands in the yard where she and Jeff Pergram raise alpacas at their home in the 7400 block of Browns Run Road in Madison Twp. Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010. A 17-year-old boy has been charged with beating one of the alpaca to death last month.

Nick Graham Rebecca Hardin stands in the yard where she and Jeff Pergram raise alpacas at their home in the 7400 block of Browns Run Road in Madison Twp. Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010. A 17-year-old boy has been charged with beating one of the alpaca to death last month.

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Masterpiece (foreground), a 3 month-old alpaca, was beaten to death last month, and a 17-year-old boy faces charges of animal cruelty, breaking and entering and tampering with evidence in the case.

Contributed photo by Jeff Pergram Masterpiece (foreground), a 3 month-old alpaca, was beaten to death last month, and a 17-year-old boy faces charges of animal cruelty, breaking and entering and tampering with evidence in the case.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Stacie Mullins

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By Lauren Pack, Staff Writer Updated 10:19 AM Wednesday, March 3, 2010

HAMILTON — Two 17-year-old boys accused of stealing and beating a baby alpaca to death could be tried in court as adults, Butler County Prosecutor Robin Piper said Tuesday, March 2.

Piper also said he plans to add more charges to the multiple ones the teens and a 22-year-old woman already face.

A 17-year-old arrested Monday by Butler County Sheriff’s detectives was arraigned Tuesday in county juvenile court on charges of animal cruelty, a second-degree misdemeanor, and breaking and entering and tampering with evidence, both felonies, for allegedly taking 3-month-old male alpaca, Masterpiece, on Feb. 5 from a farm on Browns Run Road in Madison Twp., beating it to death and dumping its body in a Montgomery County barn.

The boy was ordered to remain behind bars at the juvenile detention center until his pretrial hearing at 11 a.m. March 11 before Judge Kathleen Romans.

A second 17-year-old Madison Twp. boy was arrested Friday on the same charges and also will appear March 11 in juvenile court. He, too, remained housed at the juvenile detention center. Both are dropouts from Madison High School, according to authorities.

Stacie Mullins, 22, 6300 block of Kalbfleisch Road in Madison Twp., will be arraigned today, March 3, in Middletown Municipal Court on charges of complicity to animal cruelty, complicity to breaking and entering and complicity to tampering with evidence. She is free from jail after posting a $15,000 bond.

Mullins told Journal media partner WKRC-TV Local 12 that she had nothing to do with harming the animal, and said she was only driving the truck. The mother of a young daughter whose husband is deployed in the military, said she was “with the wrong people at the wrong time.”

She said the teens are friends of her brother and they were trying to see if they could catch the alpaca.

Piper, who called the crime “abhorrent,” said the law needs to be changed so that the intentional beating and torture of an animal carries a stronger penalty. Current law lumps actions of negligence and intentional cruelty together. “That needs to change,” Piper said. “We need to get the law right.

“It is ridiculous you can steal $500 worth of dishes from someone and be charged with a felony, but beat to death an animal that can’t defend itself is still a misdemeanor,” Piper said.

He noted several lawmakers have tried to make changes, but the process is slow moving or attempts have stalled.

In the meantime, Piper said he will work with the laws on the books. Because the alpaca, valued at $8,000, was the property of the Rebecca Hardin and Jeff Pergram, the prosecutor said he plans to file a felony vandalism charge as well as felony theft against the trio accused. Vandalism by definition is to cause serious harm to another’s property.

As part of the process of sending juvenile cases to adult court, a psychological evaluation will be ordered for the 17-year-olds, who are both dropouts from Madison High School.

Piper said he very much wants to know the results of those evaluations.

“I want to see that report. We need to try to know what is the heck is going on with them,” he said.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2168  or lpack@coxohio.com.

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