KEY POINTS
- The former Louisiana cop pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual abuse of animals and one count of possession of child pornography
- He will be required to register as a sex offender
- Authorities said he engaged in sexual conduct with his dog, a retired police K-9
A 41-year-old former police officer in Bossier, Louisiana, will serve 20 years in prison for possessing child pornography and sexually abusing his dog.
Terry Yetman, a former patrol division officer with the Bossier City Police Department, was sentenced Tuesday to four years each on five counts of sexual abuse of animals. Those charges will run consecutively for a total of 20 years, KTBS reported.
Yetman was also given by District Judge Michael Craig a sentence of 20 years on one count of possession of child pornography. This sentence will run concurrent to the first one.
Yetman will also be required to register as a sex offender, the report added.
The former cop pleaded guilty to the charges in August before his trial started. Some of the dozens of charges he initially had were dismissed in a plea arrangement with the state.
Allegations of animal abuse first surfaced against Yetman in November 2018, and he was placed on paid administrative leave at the time, pending an internal investigation.
He was first arrested in December 2018 after authorities said he engaged in sexual conduct with his dog, a Belgian Malinois named Boss, and had pornographic images of a person doing the same. He was charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse of an animal.
State police took custody of his dog, a retired police K-9, and later placed the animal in a rescue in Texas.
In April 2019, shortly after posting bond, Yetman was arrested for the second time and charged with 31 counts of possessing child pornography.
Yetman's second arrest was connected to another child pornography investigation from 2018 that led to the federal indictment of a retired deputy.
Court records obtained by KTBS indicated that the original target, at Yetman’s request, provided Yetman with a dirty pair of underwear belonging to the target’s 7-year-old daughter. Yetman then took the underwear to the homes of other alleged sexual predators.
During his conversations with the retired cop, Yetman described “how he would like to have sex with children, both boys and girls,” court records stated.
Police also found that Yetman's Apple iCloud account contained images and videos showing him engaging in explicit sexual acts with his dog and images of children engaged in sexual activity.
Yetman was ultimately fired by Bossier police and has been in the Bossier County Detention Center since his arrest.
Representation. A gavel. Photo: Pixabay
