Pennsylvania horse sex sting: Animals not designed as 'sex toys for the perverted'

Michael Crawford was sentenced to 18 months of supervised probation on one count of conspiracy to commit bestiality. The Pennsylvania man had travelled thousands of miles to indulge in his animal urine sex fantasies.

Undercover police officers arrested the 68-year-old after he posted a website ad seeking horse owners. The county Sherriff's Office said that when Crawford landed in Phoenix he believed he would meet with the horse owner he had contacted.

Sherriff Joe Arpaio said Crawford hoped the horse owner – who was in fact an undercover police officer – would allow him to engage in "perverted" sex acts with an animal, according to the Arizona Republic.

Crawford confessed to an undercover officer that he bought a non-refundable plane ticket to travel 2,000 miles to Phoenix, bringing five shirts which he wanted the horse to urinate on. He told detectives he would mail the clothing back to his home in Pennsylvania, where he apparently planned to wear them for arousal purposes, Arpaio said.

"Perversion has reached a new level," Arpaio told KPHO TV news station. When Crawford landed in Phoenix, he was met at the airport by undercover deputies.

"I take this crime seriously," Arpaio said. "It is part of my office's fight against animal abuse. These animals are not meant to be sex toys for the perverted."

Investigators in the Animal Crimes Investigations Unit first started the case in October 2015 and corresponded with Crawford via email and phone conversations.

Evidence including emails, recorded phone calls, postings and a conversation from the airport to a pre-designated meeting with a posse volunteer and his mini horse confirmed Crawford's intentions of committing bestiality, a class six felony.

Crawford told detectives he has been sexually aroused by horses for years and has travelled around the US to find horse owners willing to allow him access to their animals.