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Man Accused Of Engaging In Sex Act With Family Dog

POSTED: 5:09 pm PDT October 19, 2006
UPDATED: 5:47 pm PDT October 19, 2006

PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. -- Investigators said 26-year-old, Michael Patrick McPhail may be the first person to face prosecution in Washington State under a new law protecting animals from sexual abuse.

According to charging documents, McPhail’s wife told Pierce County sheriff’s investigators she saw him engage in a sex act with the family pet.

Sherriff’s investigators said she took two photographs with a cell phone camera, then contacted police.

“There's pretty clear proof what happened to this dog and it something that's against the law, and we arrested him and the prosecutor's office charged him, so we'll see how this law stands up,” Ed Troyer with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said.

Investigators said McPhail was arrested. When police arrived he began to cry and slammed his head into a glass coffee table.

Prosecutors told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News this is the first time the new felony animal cruelty law to protect animals from sexual abuse has been tested in the courtroom.

The law was written following a highly publicized incident in Enumclaw in which a man died in a similar incident involving a horse.

McPhail is being held on $300,000 bail and has been kept under suicide watch since his arrest late Wednesday.

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