Kern County DA to decide on charges in alleged Arvin dog abuse case

It’s been nearly two weeks since the video of a dog in Arvin allegedly being sexually abused has gone viral . The incident happened on December 4th and was caught on home video surveillance. On Monday, Arvin Police told Eyewitness News they’d completed their investigation and submitted a formal complaint to the Kern County District Attorney’s office on December 12th. The Arvin community has been pushing for an arrest, but what would justice look like after that?

Here in California, Penal Code 286.5 (a) states “Every person who has sexual contact with an animal is guilty of a misdemeanor." Bakersfield Attorney Mark Anthony Raimondo explained the potential punishments the suspect might face if charges are filed by the District Attorney's Office. The maximum punishment in any misdemeanor would be one year in the county jail, although serving any jail time on something like that would be pretty unlikely.

Bakersfield Attorney Mark Anothy Raimondo says the alleged suspect could still face some repercussions. “It’s really likely somebody would get some counseling for that. I think the concern for most misdemeanors would be kind of an educational thing to teach the person a lesson as well as helping them deal with the issues that caused that to happen in the first place.” Legal experts say proving sexual abuse against an animal is much more difficult than proving general abuse and they both have the same level of punishment.

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