FREDERICK, Md. — A Maryland man has been given probation after he hit and put his fingers up a guinea pig's butt in 2018.
34-year-old Thomas Mackey of Middletown, entered an Alford Plea to Aggravated Animal Cruelty.
The State argued for a suspended sentence but the judge sentenced Mackey to probation before judgment and ordered three years supervised probation with the special conditions of mental health treatment, random checks by Animal Control, and prohibition to owning new animals for the period of probation.
On December 2, 2018, Frederick County Sheriff’s deputies and Animal Control officers were dispatched to the 5400 block of Urbana Pike for a 911 call reporting physical abuse of a guinea pig.
Witnesses stated that Mackey was sitting inside a parked vehicle in the parking lot hitting the animal and inserting his finger into its rectum.
Medical evaluation found injuries to the guinea pig consistent with what witnesses and Mackey described to officers.
