BRADENTON - A 63-year-old man charged with animal cruelty for twice putting his arm into a horse's vaginal cavity was sentenced Tuesday to a year in the Manatee County jail.
Leslie M. Gee
Leslie M. Gee pleaded no contest to animal cruelty, a felony, for molesting the horse in July, prosecutors said. Gee is not a veterinarian.
Sheriff's deputies said Gee caused "unnecessary pain and suffering" to the horse, a bay mare named Bella that was stabled in the 2500 block of 29th Street East in Palmetto.
The horse, which bled from the penetration, was having trouble breathing, according to sheriff's reports. Gee had no permission to be at the stall, Assistant State Attorney Garrett Franzen said.
The horse's owner, Donna Marie Holmes, 48, said she first confronted Gee in a horse stall after she noticed him standing near Bella with his hand at the horse's rear end.
Gee said he had ridden the horses two weeks ago when he was looking to buy one and said he had permission to ride the horses and to take care of them, according to sheriff's reports.
Holmes told Gee she never gave him permission to do any of those things. She instructed Gee, who has a friend in the neighborhood, to keep away from her home and her horses.
Then Holmes called police.
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