The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

July 20, 2009

UPDATE: Man faces Sept. sentencing for having sex with lamb

By Matt Snyder

SANDY LAKE TOWNSHIP — A Sandy Lake Township man said he doesn’t remember the details of a drunken night that ended with him facing charges of trespassing and sex with a barnyard animal.

James Alan Stiver, 46, of 11 Booher Road, took an Alford plea for felony trespassing and sexual intercourse with an animal — a misdemeanor — on Monday before Common Pleas Judge Christopher J. St. John. He had charges of animal cruelty dropped.

An Alford plea works like a guilty plea in Pennsylvania for sentencing purposes but does not require the defendant to admit the details of their crime. Stiver said he doesn’t remember what happened.

“I awakened to someone shining a flash light on me and I was told to leave,” Stiver said. “I was walking down the road when I was picked up by (Sandy Lake police) Chief Oakes, and was taken back to the location.”

Stiver was awakened by the barn’s owner, a woman who had slipped a baby monitor into the barn because she thought someone might be staying there. She heard the lamb making noise at about 9 or 10 p.m. Jan. 11 and found Stiver and the animal, police said.

Stiver was covered in blood, some from his own hands, which had lacerations, and some on the front of his pants, underwear, and genitals. Police found him with his pants undone, they said.

Assistant District Attorney Keith Bell said a Greenville Veterinary Clinic expert examined the lamb and said it had been penetrated, but no blood tests were done to match the blood on the sheep and the blood on Stiver.

The lamb had to be euthanized due to its injuries.

Stiver said he came upon the barn while wandering home from a Stoneboro bar after polishing off most of a 30-pack of beer. He said he does not remember what led him to the barn. It is between his home and the bar he was drinking at, and he said he grew up in the area.

Stiver is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 11.

Text Only
Local News
  • Couple charged in bank robbery

    A Hubbard man with a Mercer County rap sheet and his girlfriend have been charged with robbing a New Wilmington bank on Jan. 24.

    February 3, 2012

  • eCenter officials eye ways to attract kids to tech careers

    When government officials talk about promoting their municipalities for businesses and entrepreneurs, it’s assumed they are hoping to attract adults.

    February 3, 2012

  • Board to seek tax hike OK from state

    For Sharon City School District officials and many others across Pennsylvania, the headaches and planning for the 2012-13 budget have already begun.

    February 3, 2012

  • Bond payment savings will exceed $1 million

    Back in October, when Hermitage Municipal Authority officials first started talking about refinancing two bond issues, they expected they could save $106,000.

    February 2, 2012

  • Alleged shooter accused of 2nd robbery

    Joshua L. Stewart, the alleged triggerman in the fatal shooting of William “Billy” Basilone Jr., has been charged with robbing the Wild Game Inn in Farrell on Dec. 28.

    February 2, 2012

  • Stealing grandma’s cash sends man to prison

    The stepdaughter of a woman who was allegedly abused and robbed by her grandson choked up as she asked the man why he would do something so heinous to his grandmother.

    February 1, 2012

  • KC grad robbed, beaten; home torched

    A woman with Jamestown roots remains in a Virginia hospital a couple weeks after a brutal attack in her home that police say was a random act of violence.

    February 1, 2012

  • Marin 3rd Democrat to plan Kelly challenge

    A third Democrat says he wants to challenge U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly for his seat, and this one, like the last, has tried for the spot before.

    February 1, 2012

  • Pair jailed in ’08 drug store heist

    Two men were arrested Monday and charged with calling in a bomb threat to West Hill Elementary School in 2008 so they could rob the Medicine Shoppe on East State Street while police were distracted, police said.

    February 1, 2012

  • NFG lowers rates 9.8%

    It’s going to be less painful in the pocketbook to turn up the thermostat as National Fuel Gas Distribution Corp. turned down its gas rates 9.8 percent.

    February 1, 2012