© NOLA
Wilson Longanecker, Jr., who served as a town councilman and then as Mayor of Sorrento, Louisiana, from 2011 to 2013, was arrested Dec. 29 on four counts of cruelty to animals and three counts of aggravated cruelty to animals, according to the
Advocate.
The
Advocate also reports that, at that time, Longanecker had already been in custody in Ascension Parish prison since Oct. 23, facing 42 counts of possessing child pornography and one count of obstruction of justice, with bail set at $1.025 million.
Sorrento is a town in Ascension Parish, near Baton Rouge.
Officials with the Northside Humane Society and the Capital Area Animal Welfare Society (CAAWS) were shocked and recalled that on a Saturday, July 7, 2012, the former mayor had stopped by a PetSmart adoption event held at its store in Baton Rouge and he had bottle-fed two newborn kittens that had lost their mother.
Longanecker, 42, came to the store by himself that day and said he was looking for cats to adopt because he wanted his children to have cats in his big house in Sorrento. He promised the rescuers, "They'll be spoiled," Lori D'Arensbourg, president of the Northside Humane Society told
Advocate reporter David J. Mitchell.
D'Arensbourg and other cat rescue volunteers were upset and very worried about the cats he adopted that day when they learned this week that Longanecker was arrested on seven counts of animal cruelty involving cats.
Although D'Arensbourg and Stacey Orillion, cat chairperson of the Capital Area Animal Welfare Society, said it is unusual for someone to adopt cats for his children by himself,
Longanecker's charm won their confidence;
and he adopted from both agencies without home checks.
They told the
Advocate reporter that Longanecker filled out the screening questionnaires and applications and paid fees of $80 - $100 each for three cats and had his photo taken with them.
Comment: This pleasant interlude appears to be ending. NYC just can't seen to do without the revenue of its 'back door' taxes. A notice was posted in all precincts with an eye to the ending the slowdown. No time off until ticketing was back to acceptable levels. (Though that was never said, of course.)