Alpaca 'gurgling and in pain' in back of truck

Judge sends case against 22-year-old woman to Butler County grand jury for consideration.

Masterpiece, a three month-old alpaca, stands in the yard of Jeff Pergram and Rebecca Hardin, who raise alpacas at their home in the 7400 block of Browns Run Road in Madison Twp. earlier this year.

Nick Graham/MIDDLETOWN JOURNAL Masterpiece, a three month-old alpaca, stands in the yard of Jeff Pergram and Rebecca Hardin, who raise alpacas at their home in the 7400 block of Browns Run Road in Madison Twp. earlier this year.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Stacie Mullins appears with her attorney Patrick Binns during a hearing in Middletown Municipal Court on Wednesday, March 17, on charges stemming from the theft and death of an alpaca in Madison Twp.

Staff photo by Pat Auckerman Stacie Mullins appears with her attorney Patrick Binns during a hearing in Middletown Municipal Court on Wednesday, March 17, on charges stemming from the theft and death of an alpaca in Madison Twp.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Franklin may leave joint EMS group
Updated 11 min. ago
County candidates seek to sway voters at forum
Updated 16 min. ago
State plane cleared by FAA to fly again
2/10/12
Ohio to dedicate $75M for demolishing abandoned homes
2/10/12
Ohio leaders preparing defense of bases amidst closures
2/9/12
> More headlines

By Jessica Heffner, Staff Writer Updated 1:25 AM Thursday, March 18, 2010

MIDDLETOWN — A detective testified the 3-month-old alpaca stolen from a Madison Twp. farm “was gurgling and in pain” when Stacie Mullins and two 17-year-old boys returned to her home.

Mullins, 22, drove the two juveniles to a Browns Run Road farm in Madison Twp. to “mess with” an alpaca, Butler County sheriff’s Detective Mike Gutowski said Wednesday, March 17, during Mullins’ preliminary hearing in Middletown Municipal Court.

Mullins is charged with felony complicity to breaking and entering, complicity to tampering with evidence and misdemeanor complicity to animal cruelty. Family and friends surrounded her as she entered the courtroom and sat silently during the proceedings. Judge Mark Wall sent her case to a Butler County grand jury.

According to a statement the detective said he took from Mullins, who said she remained inside her truck, the boys chased Masterpiece, a baby male alpaca. Gutowski said he believed the animal was struck at the farm and then was loaded onto the back of Mullins’ truck. She then drove it to her home on Kalbfleisch Road, where they found Masterpiece still alive, “gurgling and in pain,” according to the detective. “Both of the juvenile defendants then hit and struck the alpaca with a wooden spindle from a deck until it was dead,” Gutowski testified.

Mullins then drove with the boys to a farm in Montgomery County where they dumped the carcass, he said.

Gutowski said when detectives asked Mullins why she did not contact police when they realized Masterpiece was still alive, she said she’d “known the other two defendants for years” and that “she didn’t want them to get in trouble.”

Owner Jeff Pergram testified he did not report Masterpiece’s disappearance until Feb. 19 after hearing rumors were circulating around Madison High School. “I knew if I opened my mouth and said anything they would shut theirs and I would never learn anything,” he said.

Share this article