After a lengthy investigation, New Castle County Police arrested a 31-year-old Hartley man for sexually abusing ponies at Carousel Park and Equestrian Center, according to police.
Officials said since February of this year the New Castle County Division of Police has been actively investigating multiple reports of injured horses at the New Castle County Carousel Park and Equestrian Center. On multiple occasions, Carousel Park staff reported arriving at work to find New Castle County lesson ponies with cords tied around their legs just above the hoof.
One of these incidents resulted in a 17-year-old black and white mare having an injury to her rear legs and difficulty walking. Detectives from the New Castle County Division of Police Criminal Investigations Unit assumed the investigation and discovered a similar incident had also been reported in September of 2019.
This incident involved another pony, a 20-year-old mare. She was found in the morning to have a length of cord tied around one of her rear legs causing the pony to be in severe pain. Detectives reviewed the security footage and saw an unknown white male wearing a dark jacket enter the barn after midnight on the nights in question. The detectives determined that this was the same suspect from the previous incidents, officials said Thursday.
On Monday, April 20th, detectives were notified of another assault on a 31-year-old brown mare. When they reviewed this footage from the surveillance system, they observed the same male suspect retrieving a feed bucket from the barn and entering the mare’s stall. The suspect was observed tying up the rear legs of the mare, removing articles of clothing, and ultimately sexually assaulting the horse, according to police. Due to clothing covering the face, the suspect was still not able to be identified.
After this incident, detectives from the New Castle County Division of Police Special Investigations Squad further enhanced the electronic surveillance equipment at the facility and began to conduct nightly surveillance. After over a month, their determination to bring a stop to these crimes finally paid off.
Earlier this morning (May 21), at approximately 12:30 a.m., detectives from the Special Investigations Squad were conducting surveillance of the stables and observed a male suspect looking into another pony’s stall. The suspect was then observed entering the stall and tying up the rear legs of the pony, officials said. When the detectives entered the stall, they discovered 31-year-old Michael Riego hiding in the corner and he was subsequently taken into custody.
Riego was transported to New Castle County Police Headquarters and charged with two counts of felony Bestiality and two counts of felony Burglary 3rd. The investigation is still ongoing and additional charges are anticipated.
At the time of this release, Riego is awaiting arraignment at Justice of the Peace Court 11.
All of the ponies were treated by an equine veterinarian and have resumed normal daily activities.
Again, this is an ongoing investigation, and based on information learned by detectives a concern surfaced that there may be more animals victimized. Detectives are asking anyone with any information pertaining to this investigation or farmers that may know or have had hired Michael Riego to contact Det. Lucas at (302) 395-8110 or via email at [email protected].
