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BRIEF OUTLINE OF BARRY HERBECK ANIMAL ABUSE CASE

Barry Herbeck was arrested the week of April 9th 1997 on felony animal mistreatment charges after police found the corpses of a puppy and five cats at his home. His girlfriend found cat entrails down the garbage disposal while she was cleaning the house. She told police she then recalled that she came home about month ago when she was still living with Herbeck, then 35, and had found a dead cat in the hallway. She said she also recalled the man's 9-year old daughter saying he had killed the family puppy.

Police found the rotting corpse of an 8-month old female German Shepherd stuffed in a container on Herbeck's porch. When police found the container, they saw that the puppy's nose and mouth had been taped shut with duct tape and one side of the dog was covered in blood.

The 9-year old told police her father became angry when the puppy urinated on the living room floor, so he taped its mouth and stuffed it in the container. She said he told her not to let it out or feed it, even though it was crying and whining. About a week later her father moved the container out to the porch, she told police. She said he threw at least one cat against the wall so hard that it died, and she saw another dead cat in the bathtub after it had bitten her father. She said there had been a large heavy box in the freezer, which she suspected was another dead cat. The 9-year old told police there was a large carpet piece over carpeting at the bottom of the stairs in her house to cover blood stains from her father throwing animals at the walls and down stairs.

In a statement to police, Herbeck said he had been beaten as a child and had a lot of pent-up anger. He said that he felt better after he killed the animals and that it helped him release his anger. He also said he felt guilty. According to the report, Herbeck said that after he killed the cats he had in the house, he would answer ads in papers for "free to good home" cats. He would dispose of dead cats in the dumpster where he worked or put them out with the trash.

Police found five cat corpses, including the one in the box, in Herbeck's garbage. Herbeck, who has a felony conviction for robbery, was also arrested on a charge of being a felon in possession of a weapon because police found two shotguns in the home.

Herbeck was released on a $25,000 signature bond. He has been ordered to have no contact with his daughter or with animals.

On April 14 1997, he had seven additional animal abuse charges filed against him in a Janesville, WI court. Six of the charges were for felony mistreatment of an animal, causing death--the puppy and the five cats; the last charge was "...intentionally committing an act of sexual gratification involving his sex organ and the anus of a black cat." Herbeck admitted to having sex with the cat. This charge is a misdemeanor.

On May 12 1997, he entered a plea of NOT GUILTY. He is still out on signature bond...and ordered by the court not to leave Rock County except to find employment. Scott Dirks, the Assistant DA brought the fact that Herbeck jumped bail back in 1989 and asked that he be confined to Rock County, but the Judge allowed him to leave for reasons of employment.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: IF YOU FEEL STRONGLY ABOUT THIS CASE, PLEASE LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD. ALWAYS REPORT ANIMAL, CHILD, OR DOMESTIC ABUSE. Our silence will allow persons like Barry Herbeck to be free to walk the streets without serving time or getting the help he needs...and he may continue to inflict torture on death on more innocent victims. To make your opinion known on this case, contact: