A 68 year old Pennsylvania man, on a fixed income, bought a round trip ticket to Phoenix believing he was going to meet an owner of small horses who would permit him to engage in various sexual acts with the animals. Michael Crawford posted an ad on a popular website which sparked the interest of an undercover detective from the Maricopa County Sheriff Office Animal Crimes Unit.
The unit, responsible for multiple investigations and subsequent arrests for bestiality, launched an investigation that began in October 2014. Since then, numerous emails and phone calls between Crawford and animal crime detectives have been exchanged. In all of them, Crawford explained in graphic detail all he desires to do with a willing horse owner and his animal. Crawford said he has been sexually aroused by horses for years and has travelled extensively to find horse owners in various cities willing to allow him access to their animals for such purposes.
“Perversion has reached a new level,” says Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
In one conversation, Crawford asked the detective what kind of horses and ponies he had, how large they were and if they are used to human sexual play. He later told the deputy that he purchased a non-refundable plane ticket to Phoenix adding, “If you can really help with what I am seeking, I am definitely interested in traveling out to meet you.” Crawford said he would be bringing five shirts on which he wanted the horse to urinate. He told detectives he would mail them back to his home in Pennsylvania where he will wear them for arousal purposes.
Crawford arrived in Phoenix as scheduled late Friday night, July 10, 2015 and was met at the airport by undercover deputies. The aforementioned emails, recorded phone calls, postings and a conversation from the airport to a pre-designated meeting with a posse volunteer and his mini horse, confirmed Crawford’s intentions of committing bestiality, a class 6 felony. He was arrested and booked into the 4th Avenue Jail.
Arpaio was instrumental in making bestiality a felony in Arizona. “I take this crime seriously,” Arpaio says. “It is part of my office’s fight against animal abuse. These animals are not meant to be sex toys for the perverted.”
Arpaio has a dedicated unit to fight animal cruelty and neglect as well as a safe house in the First Avenue Jail where female inmates care for the animals deputies seized in abuse and neglect situations.