Sugar Lover Released from Prison

HORRY COUNTY, S.C.—After serving 16 months of a three-year sentence for buggery, Rodell Vereen was released from state prison March 1, but he still must serve the next two years on probation in addition to remaining registered as a sex offender. There also is a restraining order still in place that restricts Vereen from going on the Lazy B Stables property, where 21-year-old Sugar still resides. Vereen was first caught copulating with the horse of his dreams on Thanksgiving Day in 2007. He was given three years’ probation and ordered to sign up as a sex offender. In July 2009, however, after Lazy B owner Barbara Kenley' set up video surveillance of the barn, Vereen was caught in the act again, by Kenley, who held him at gunpoint until police arrived. Circuit Court Judge Larry Hyman originally sentenced Vereen to five years in prison, but later reduced the sentence to three years behind bars and two years on probation. Vereen, a 51-year-old schizophrenic who owned a landscaping business, told the court he had stopped taking his medication, which is why he couldn’t keep himself from sexually assaulting Sugar, and apologized for his actions, saying he did not mean to hurt the mare. "I'm sorry about what I've done," Vereen told the judge during a hearing in 2009 at the Horry County courthouse. “I didn't mean to do it. It's my fault. I'm sorry for what I've done to myself.” Despite the fact that he is now out of jail and being supervised by the Horry County Probation, Parole & Pardon office, Kenley’s husband told news outlets that his wife is aware of Vereen’s release and remains concerned that he might return to the Lazy B.