A circuit court judge has ordered the man police said had sex twice with a horse to undergo a mental evaluation before any further court hearings.
Rodell Vereen, 50, appeared in front of Judge Larry Hyman Monday morning for a probation hearing to determine whether Vereen violated his parole.
In July 2008, Vereen pleaded guilty to buggery after admitting to police he had sex with Sugar, a 21-year-old horse at Lazy B Stables in Longs.
At the time, Judge Hyman ordered Vereen to three years probation and required him to register as a sex offender and seek mental help. Almost a year later, on July 27th, 2009, Horry County Police arrested Vereen again for having sex with the same horse.
Police charged Vereen with buggery and trespassing after the horse's owner cornered Vereen last Monday night at her stables.
Police said the owner, Barbara Kenley, provided to them surveillance video of Vereen having sex with Sugar from the weekend before. In addition to the latest charges, a magistrate added a probation violation and set a $30,000 bail last week.
On Monday, however, at Vereen's probation hearing, Judge Hyman revoked the magistrate's bail, ordered Vereen to have two mental evaluations before proceeding further and requested to keep jurisdiction over the case as it goes forward. Hyman's ruling means Vereen will be incarcerated until the evaluations are completed. Richard Loskill, Vereen's probation officer, said getting the evaluations performed could take up to six months.
Once those are completed, Loskill said Vereen will appear again in front of Hyman, who could then rule on whether to revoke his probation. Should that happen, Vereen would be turned over to the SC Department of Corrections to serve the remainder of his probation sentence. Loskill said by the time Vereen comes back up for a probation hearing, the state could have its case ready for the latest charges, in which case everything could be bundled into one court appearance.
The horse's owner, Barbara Kenley, was present Monday morning and said while she could rest easy knowing Vereen will be locked up for now, she doesn't buy the mental illness defense his lawyer, Ed Chrisco, argued for.
