Bestiality & child porn: ex-K9 cop Terry Yetman gets 20 years

(Beth Clifton collage)

Allegedly had sex with police dog

            BOSSIER CITY,  Louisiana––Former Bossier City police officer and K9 handler Terry Yetman,  40,  was on November 23,  2021 sentenced to serve at least 20 years in prison after pleading guilty in August 2021 to six of the 71 counts he faced in connection with alleged acts of bestiality and possession of child pornography.

Louisiana 26th Judicial District Judge Michael Craig sentenced Yetman to serve four years on each of five counts of sexually abusing animals.

“Those charges will run consecutively for a total of 20 years,”  explained Vickie Wellborn of KTBS television in Shreveport,  Louisiana.  “Then Yetman received 20 years on the one count of possession of child pornography,  with that sentence running concurrent to the first one.

“Yetman also has to register as a sex offender,”  Wellborn reported.

Terry Yetman & German shepherd police dog.  (Beth Clifton collage)

At least 65 further charges dropped

Yetman was sentenced under a plea bargain in which at least 65 additional charges were dropped.

Yetman surrendered to Louisiana State Police officers on December 19,  2018,  after learning that warrants had been issued charging him with 20 counts of sexual abuse of animals by performing sexual acts with them,  and 20 counts of sexual abuse of animals by filming those acts.

Yetman was jailed in lieu of $350,000 bond,  and has remained jailed ever since.

“A news release indicated that state troopers began an investigation in August 2018 after receiving a tip,”  reported Crystal Bonvillian of the Cox Media Group National Content Desk at the time.

“The investigation led to a search warrant for electronic devices” belonging to Yetman,  Bonvillian said.

Terry Yetman.

Bestiality charges originated from child porn probe

Elaborated Wellborn,  “According to court records, Yetman’s arrest was connected to another child pornography investigation from 2018 that led to the federal indictment of a retired deputy.  Officers identified Yetman through subpoenas and search warrants of online accounts.

“According to the original suspect,  and in Yetman’s conversations,  Yetman asked for and received a used pair of underwear belonging to the original suspect’s 7-year-old daughter.  Yetman took the underwear to other predators’ homes,”  Wellborn summarized from court records.

“The investigation uncovered electronic evidence,”  Wellborn said,  “of acts of bestiality on Boss,  a retired police dog.”

Boss,  a Belgian Malinois,  was impounded after Yetman was arrested in 2018.

“Ultimately, he went to a rescue in Texas,”  the news web site Bossier Now said.

Reports about Yetman’s arrest went viral during the five days before Christmas in 2018.  At least 13,900 online media posted accounts of the charges.

(See Did Louisiana cop Terry Yetman do the dog? If so, why?)

Terry Yetman receives award in October 2018.

Award for work with domestic violence victims

A Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office media release recalled that Yetman only two months earlier,  in October 2018,  received the Trey Hutchison Award,  named for a Bossier City police officer who was killed in 2004 while responding to a domestic violence call.

The award certificate praised Yetman for “outstanding effort over the year to champion the protective rights of domestic violence victims and their families. ”

KSLA-12,  a CBC affiliate in Shreveport,  reported that Yetman was placed on paid administrative leave in November 2018, when the Bossier City police department learned that Louisiana state police were investigating Yetman.

(Beth Clifton collage)

New, stronger law

Yetman was among the first suspects to be charged––and may have been the very first charged––under a strengthened Louisiana anti-bestiality law adopted earlier in 2018.

The 2018 law provided that convicted first-time offenders may be imprisoned for up to five years on each count,  exactly the sentence that Yetman received,  and may be fined up to $2,000.  Yetman,  having few visible assets,  was apparently not fined.

Second and subsequent offenses may bring up to 10 years in prison plus a fine of up to $25,000.

Terry Yetman is the police dog handler on the right.  (Facebook photo)

Cop for 15 years

“I’ve been a police officer for about 10 years,” Yetman told Homer Guardian Journal editor Michelle Bates in August 2013,  when he was hired for part-time duty by the Homer Police Department in Homer,  Louisiana.

“I started my career in Haughton,”  Yetman said,  “and stayed there for about six years,  went to the Desoto Parish Sheriff’s Office,  and also to Arkansas,  so I’m also certified in Arkansas.”

Yetman,  wrote Bates,  “is Peace Officer Specialized Training-certified,  and has garnered certification in many other areas of law enforcement including sobriety field testing,  SWAT (Special Weapons & Tactics),  and narcotics interrogation.”

Terry Yetman.
(Facebook photo)

Five posts in 15 years

Yetman moved from Homer to the Bossier City police department,  at least his fifth post in 15 years,  in 2014.

Yetman’s only known disciplinary issue,  however,  was a three-day suspension received in April 2016,  in an incident in which Bossier Parish police juror Rick Avery was stopped on suspicion of driving while intoxicated,  and was taken to the police station for questioning,  but was released without charges.

A Bossier City police dispatcher was suspended for 90 days in connection with the same incident,  while another police officer resigned.

Believed to be Terry Yetman and son in happier times.  (Facebook photo)

Private life

Like most police officers,  Yetman tended to keep himself,  his family,  and personal life private.

A man of his name was listed as the husband of a woman ten years older,  who died in November 2008 in Stonewall,  near Bossier City,  leaving a son from that marriage,  plus three daughters from a previous marriage.

Only two photos of Yetman with an animal are known to ANIMALS 24-7.  The animal shown in both photos was a German shepherd police dog,  deceased before the time frame within which the charges against Yetman are believed to have originated.

Beth & Merritt Clifton

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