A convicted cocaine smuggler who was caught in Monroe in 2005 has been arrested again, this time for running what authorities say appears to be a bestiality farm in which visitors could engage in all sorts of twisted sex acts with animals.
Douglas Spink was arrested at his ramshackle, heavily wooded compound near the Canadian border in Whatcom County along with a 51-year-old tourist from Great Britain who is accused of having sex with three dogs.
The Sumas-area property was touted on at least one website as a destination for sex with animals, said Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo.
“It was a destination for (Stephen) Clarke, who came here from England,” Elfo said of a man who was arrested at the property earlier this week. “From what we’ve been told, that website certainly conveys that message.”
The U.S. Probation Department, the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Office raided the property Wednesday, with help from the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office. They seized three computers, electronic storage devices and pro-bestiality books, as well as four horses, six dogs and a cage full of mice, said William Corn, chief probation officer for the U.S. Probation Department.
The raid led to the arrest of Spink, who lives at the property, which Corn described as a hovel.
British tourist Clarke is allegedly captured on video sexually assaulting three large-breed dogs. He was booked into Whatcom County Jail under investigation of three counts of first-degree animal cruelty.
The Whatcom Humane Society is caring for all of the horses and dogs that were on the property. Thirteen mice from the property had to be euthanized.
Spink has lived at the property since 2007, when he was released from prison and put on probation for a 2005 cocaine smuggling arrest, according to court records. Wednesday’s raid took place because authorities suspected he violated his federal probation, Elfo said.
Authorities started investigating Spink after he repeatedly attempted to contact James Michael Tait in jail, said Emily Langlie, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorneys’ Office.
Tait had previously admitted filming a man having sex with a horse in Enumclaw in 2005. The man Tait filmed died of internal injuries suffered during the incident. He received a minor sentence in the case because Washington had relatively weak bestiality laws at the time.
He was arrested and jailed on suspicion of similar offenses last fall in Tennessee.
Spink appeared in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Friday, and he’ll remain in a federal detention center on suspicion of violating the conditions of his supervised release at least until his next court date, April 30.
Spink’s lawyer, Howard Phillips, insisted there’s no evidence his client violated the terms of his release.
Spink was arrested in 2005 after investigators pulled him over in Monroe with a load of nearly 375 pounds of cocaine, valued at $34 million. He was given a lenient, three-year sentence because of his extensive cooperation with investigators.
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