Hollister
– The Sheriff’s Department arrested four San Benito High School
students for tying up a pig from the Future Farmers of America barn
the day before graduation.
Hollister – The Sheriff’s Department arrested four San Benito High School students for tying up a pig from the Future Farmers of America barn the day before graduation.
All four students face felony charges of grand theft, conspiracy and cruelty to animals.
Michael Parker, 18, and three juveniles entered the SBHS Agricultural area and removed a Future Farmers of American show pig, named Daisy, early Thursday morning, San Benito County Sheriff’s Department Detective Tom Keylon said. The senior students tied the pig up with a rope and tried to bring it across the campus to the senior lawn.
The senior prank did not go as planned, Keylon said in a statement released to the press. Daisy was injured when she tried to escape and again when the students dropped her after they were startled by a fire – a separate senior prank – on the school grounds.
Presidential Protection Services, Hollister-based private security firm hired to patrol the campus after hours, recovered Daisy and returned her to her pen.
SBHS freshman Josh Masters, Daisy’s owner, said she suffered from sore hind legs. Masters, who planned to show the pig at the upcoming San Benito County Fair, said he expects Daisy to make a full recovery.
“I couldn’t believe that it really happened,” Masters said Thursday. “I just wanted her to be okay.”
Parker and the other three seniors were only involved with the pig and were not responsible for any of the vandalism to the school that occurred that night including an attempt to start a small bonfire, according to Keylon. Other vandals spray painted “Class of 2005” graffiti all over the campus, damaged trees and dropped two engine blocks into the school’s swimming pool, among other damage.
But all four students are facing felony charges of grand theft, conspiracy and cruelty to animals, and a misdemeanor charge of trespassing Keylon said. Keylon also said that no other arrests are pending with regards to the pig incident. Police are still investigating the other incidents of vandalism.
Parker was arrested and booked at the San Benito County Jail. He was released on his own recognizance less than one hour after being booked on the orders of Superior Court Judge Harry Tobias said Jail Commander Edward Escamilla.
The three juvenile students were booked and later released from the juvenile detention center Escamilla said.
Both the Hollister Police and the San Benito County Sheriff’s Department are investigating the vandalism because the county line runs through the campus. Officer Rich Vasquez at the Hollister Police Department, which is investigating the vandalism on the city side of the county line, said that no one has been apprehended for involvement those incidents.
“We are following up some leads,” Vasquez said. “But to my knowledge, no arrests have been made.”
The four students involved in the pig prank were not allowed to participate in Friday’s graduation ceremony Superintendent Jean Burns Slater said. She also said that the school’s investigation into the vandalism would be ongoing.
“We will continue our investigation through the summer,” Slater said.
