Texas Man Charged With Bestiality After Neighbor Catches Him Abusing Dog, Police Say
Philip Samuel Mercon was allegedly caught sexually abusing a dog on Saturday, Bellmead, Texas, police said.
A Texas man became one of the first people to be prosecuted under a new state law banning bestiality after police found him abusing a dog in a neighbor’s backyard, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Officers in Bellmead, TX, arrested Philip Samuel Mercon, 27, after a neighbor called police to report the crime, Bellmead police Lt. Kory Martin told Oxygen.com.
Upon the arrival of the cops, Mercon let go of the dog and tried to make a run for it, but officers caught up with him and booked him on a felony charge of bestiality, and misdemeanor charges of trespassing and evading arrest, police said.
Police notified the owner of the dog — a male mutt, according to the Waco Herald-Tribune — but the dog appeared to be uninjured, Martin said.
He was released Sunday after paying $8,000 bond, according to the Herald-Tribune.
Mercon’s arrest is believed to be one of the first charges of bestiality in the state since September 2017, when Gov. Greg Abbott passed a law making it a felony to have sex with animals, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. If convicted, he faces up to two years in prison.
It was not immediately clear if Mercon had secured a defense attorney.
[Photo: McLennan County Sheriff's Office]