MELROSE, Ore. (KMTR) -- A Roseburg man is facing animal abuse charges for allegedly trying to steal a goat to sacrifice on New Year's Eve.
Troopers were called out to Melrose after a resident reported a suspicious man parked outside her residence. When Police approached him he said he was planning on stealing the woman's goat for a sacrifice. The suspect, Hunter Chambers Goldberg, told police he had contacted the woman earlier about buying her goat but she wouldn't sell it.
When State Police searched his car they found two machetes in his trunk. He told troopers he used them to sacrifice a goat a couple weeks earlier that he dumped in a nearby lake. Police couldn't say where he got the animal to begin with, but did say they found the remains of a goat in the location described by Goldberg.
They say fortunately cases this strange are few and far between.
"There are several different cases involving animal abuse,” says Lieutenant Gregg Hastings. “The majority of them deal with neglect more than the malicious killing of an animal, but whether it's a domestic animal or a farm animal, it's still something that's very unusual."
23-year-old Goldberg was arrested and booked into the Douglas County jail for investigation of aggravated animal abuse, trespassing and conspiracy.
