UPDATE: Evanston Horse Molester Gets Maximum Sentence
A Texas couple voiced outrage Sunday, saying they caught an Evanston, Wyo. man sexually attacking their horse when they stopped briefly at the local rodeo grounds.
“I’m posting this because I don’t want it to happen again to anyone’s horses,” wrote Carly Rudd, of Fort Worth, Texas, Sunday in a public Facebook post to the Evanston rodeo community. She said she won’t be stopping in Evanston with her horses again.
Carly Rudd and her husband Levi Rudd arrived in Evanston from Casper at about 3 a.m. Sunday, cared for the horses and went to sleep, wrote Carly.
Sometime after 4 a.m., Levi realized some lights were still on near the horses. He went to turn them off, heard a commotion and found a man “essentially raping” their mare with his arm, Rudd wrote.
The man tensed as if to punch Levi, then Levi tackled the man and held him down until police responded, according to Carly’s post and court documents.
James Thomas Botkin was arrested after the incident. He was in the Uinta County Detention Center as of Monday and is now facing one count of bestiality.
The charge is punishable by up to one year in jail and $1,000 in fines.
A Scuffle
An evidentiary affidavit filed in the case Monday echoes Carly’s post.
It says police dispatch sent Uinta County Sheriff’s Deputy Jarrod Asay to the Uinta County fairgrounds, for a report of a man caught raping a horse.
“The male was being pinned down by the horse owner,” dispatch told Asay, the affidavit said.
On scene, Carly and Levi said their family had arrived at the fairgrounds at about 3 a.m. that morning. Levi unloaded the horses and penned them up in the stalls on the north end of the property, just north of the main arena, the document says.
After caring for the horses and getting ready for bed, Levi realized he’d left a light on outside. As he approached the stall he observed a man, later identified as Botkin, standing behind his horse with his entire, right arm penetrated into the horse’s vagina, the document related from Levi’s interview.
“What the f--- are you doing?” Levi yelled.
Botkin jumped out of the stall and “bowed up” to Levi as if he were going to punch him, says the affidavit. Levi tackled the male; a scuffle followed, the report says.
Levi subdued Botkin while Carly called for help.
The document says the horse began acting strangely: her tail was rigid and sticking up, and she was bleeding from the penetration site.
Asay and the Rudds discussed veterinary care options, and Asay gave the Rudds contact information for them to send the horse’s diagnosis and medical evaluation to him.
Asay then went to the Evanston Regional Hospital, where Botkin was by then being treated.
Botkin had a fractured sinus from the scuffle, Asay noted in the affidavit.
The document says Botkin’s sweatshirt had apparent horse manure and blood on it, and that he reeked of “manure and bodily fluid.”
Once Botkin was medically cleared, he was taken to Asay’s patrol vehicle in handcuffs. He told Asay he was likely being arrested for a “trespassing” incident, says the affidavit.
In The Interview Room
Asay later took Botkin to an interview room for a recorded interview.
Botkin declined to say what had happened.
“I then asked James if he was a vet,” Asay wrote.
Botkin reportedly answered no to that question, and no to the question of whether he was interested in any sort of veterinary school.
In a phone conversation later that morning, Carly said the family had gone to South Valley Equine Veterinary, where they’d noticed the horse had broken out in hives, says the affidavit.
The veterinarian reportedly said the horse suffered vaginal trauma and bleeding and attributed the hives to high stress.
The stress could lead to potentially-deadly colic, Carly added, according to the affidavit.
They were told to keep a close eye on the horse.
New Law
Wyoming did not have a law against bestiality until 2021.
State Rep. Clark Stith, R-Rock Springs, crafted the law that year in response to a 2020 horse-molestation in his home community of Sweetwater County, he told Cowboy State Daily.
Authorities at the time were frustrated that they couldn’t prosecute the suspect, Stith added.
Wyoming’s animal cruelty statutes may not cover many sex acts against animals.
“That was a loophole that I wanted to get taken care of,” he said.
Since then, Stith has been surprised to see the law charged as frequently as it has.
“It turned out to be more common than I would have thought,” said Stith.
Stith also said the deputy, Asay was apparently “paying attention” during this investigation, since Asay questioned Botkin about whether Botkin was a veterinarian.
The bestiality law has exceptions for veterinarians performing some of their duties, like artificial insemination practices.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
