Fifth District Circuit Court Judge Joseph H. Loper Jr. reduced the bond of a Carroll County man facing multiple charges against animals.
Carroll County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Michael Edward Bobbitt on Nov. 11, 2022, on charges including bestiality, sexual assault and aggravated animal cruelty, according to a statement released by Doll Stanley with In Defense of Animals.
Deputies served Michael Bobbitt with a search and seizure order, seizing evidence that included a computer. They arrested Bobbitt and booked him into the Carroll Montgomery Regional Correctional Facility, according to the statement.
His bond was set at $375,000, according to reports.
Michael Bobbitt was bound over to the Grand Jury on Nov. 21 on the charges, and Justice Court Judge Ronnie Hicks refused to reduce the $375,000 bond he ordered.
Now in the Circuit Court, Judge Loper reduced Bobbitt’s bond to $50,000 allowing him to bond out, the release stated.
Bobbitt was bound over to the April 2023 Grand Jury.
“Bobbitt was charged with two felony counts of ‘unnatural intercourse with a beast,’ a crime and up to a 10-year penitentiary sentence with a $350,000 bond. He was charged with a single count of sexual battery against his wife, Christy Bobbitt. Michael Bobbitt was given an extra $25,000 bond and charged with aggravated animal cruelty, ‘maliciously injuring dogs or cats,’ for injuries one of the dogs sustained,” the release stated.
Bobbitt’s request to reduce his bond originally was denied.
Christy Bobbitt, with her attorney, surrendered herself at the Grenada County Jail. Christy was charged with four felony counts of “unnatural intercourse with a beast,” and bailed on a $20,000 bond.
“Hope Animal Sanctuary responded to our sheriff’s department’s need for immediate assistance for four dogs seized from the Bobbitt’s property. The dogs are in our staff’s good hands, and the care and disposition of these cruelly objectified dogs will be their secret. Their trauma will not follow them,” said Sharon Stone, operations manager at In Defense of Animals’ Hope Animal Sanctuary.
In Defense of Animals will continue to follow this case and praises Carroll County Sheriff Clint Walker and his deputies' handling of the case.
“As heinous as bestiality is, it may not be as removed from our communities as we’d think. News of the prosecution of the Bobbitts should give potential offenders pause. Incarceration is a real possibility,” said Doll Stanley, Justice for Animals Senior Campaigner with In Defense of Animals. “This is yet another tragic case that proves violence to animals and humans is closely linked — those who abuse one will likely abuse the other. We must protect all members of our communities.”
