On August 4th, 2008, a PCSO corporal was dispatched to a welfare check on a horse on E. Javelina Drive in Florence. The reporting party was concerned that the owner of the horse was going to kill the horse.
The reporting party stated that the owner had driven off with a horse tied to the back bumper of his truck with a chain. The officer followed the tire tracks on the dirt road, where there were also impressions from the horse trailing behind. The officer then located the truck dragging the horse. The horse was lying on its side as it was being dragged in the dirt behind the truck.
The truck stopped and a man, later identified as Gordon Allen Bates, of Florence, and a girl, later identified as his 13-year-old daughter, exited the vehicle. The officer then observed the girl kicking the horse in the head, yelling at the horse to get up, while the male subject removed a white PVC pipe from the rear of the truck and begin to beat the horse repeatedly with the pipe, yelling at it to get up.
The officer ordered the individuals to stop kicking and striking the horse and they complied. The horse had a car tow strap tied around his neck and the strap was embedded into the horse's neck. The horse was bleeding profoundly from his nose and there was road rash on the horse's rear legs and multiple cuts and abrasions from where it had been struck with the PVC pipe. After the officer removed the strap from the horse's neck, Bates told the officer that the horse would not obey and he needed to get the horse to another location.
The officer arrested Bates and his daughter and informed Bates he was being charged with animal cruelty. Bates and his daughter were released on their own recognizance and charges for both Bates and his daughter have been submitted to the County Attorney's Office for charge and review. The horse was turned over to the Arizona Department of Agriculture and is said to be doing okay.