Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office's Property Crimes Unit detectives reported that Treyvon Donte Covington, a 24-year-old man from Baton Rouge was charged with animal cruelty, five counts of simple burglary, three counts of theft of livestock, attempted theft of livestock, felony theft over $25,000, felony damage to property $1,000 to $50,000, three counts of contributing to the delinquency of juveniles, and criminal trespassing.
According to the news release, Covington turned himself in and allegedly admitted involvement in the theft of three horses from a location on New Horizon Lane in Prairieville.
Earlier, Ascension Parish sheriff's deputies were looking for Convingston and a juvenile in the theft of three horses February 25, 2023. Two others have been arrested.
Deputies responded to reports of three stolen horses from Prairieville, one of which was
Cajeta, report 5886 on the Stolen Horse International-NetPosse webpage. All three horses were stolen from a home on New Horizon Lane in Prairieville. Deputies have said one of them is worth an estimated $50,000, while the other two are valued at $5,000.
While the horses were recovered a few days later at a Baton Rouge home and two others were stolen in Brusly, the owners of the Prairieville horses euthanized one because it was severely injured due to injuries it sustained after being tortured and abused. Another horse is still undergoing treatment at the LSU Vet School.
The horses' owners are heartbroken from the ordeal. Bette Ragusa said that when her stolen horses were located, they were dehydrated and possibly left without food for days.
Anyone with information on this case can call the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office anonymously at (225) 621-4636 or by texting 847411 to the sheriff's anonymous tip line from any cellular device or Crime Stoppers at (225) 344-STOP (7867).
Resources:
Baton Rouge man arrested in Ascension horse theft; one adult, two minors now in custody, https://www.wbrz.com/news/baton-rouge-man-arrested-in-ascension-horse-theft-one-adult-two-minors-now-in-custody/
Detectives report arrest in horse theft from Prairieville, https://www.weeklycitizen.com/story/news/local/2023/03/03/ascension-parish-detectives-searching-for-suspect-in-horse-theft-in-prairieville/69967550007/
Baton Rouge man turns self into Ascension deputies in horse thefts, https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/baton-rouge-man-youth-sought-in-prairieville-horse-thefts/article_149bd1b8-b9db-11ed-bd5d-a7385b4a508b.html
3/5/2023 10:24:00 AM
Kassandra Crissman is with Patti Meier and 53 others on Facebook . February 25 at 10:00 AM · Update 3/1/2022: This is an incredibly difficult update. All three horses were recovered on 2/27/2023. All three were suffering from serious injury and dehydration and all three had to be rushed to the veterinarian for urgent treatment. As happy as we were to have the horses back in our care, we felt and still feel so much sadness and anger. It is with a heavy heart I inform you all that Romeo's injuries were too severe for him to overcome. Surrounded by love and people who cared for him, he was put to rest. Without these injuries, Romeo could have lived many many more years peacefully. Cajeta and Rhett have remained in veterinary care and are still recovering from these awful events. These beautiful, loving, and trusting horses were treated with such heinous cruelty I don't think I even have the words. I want to thank everyone who looked for them and prayed or even just shared their story. But this story isn't over. These horses need justice. They deserve justice.
Debi