By Conrad Dudderar
Associate Editor
EL RENO – A Yukon man has pleaded no contest to felony charges of trying to have sex with a dog.
Max Allen Gerlt, 24, recently was convicted of attempted crimes against nature. He will serve six months in the Canadian County Jail and was ordered not to have contact with animals while on probation after his release.
Gerlt violated state law “by attempting to commit the detestable and abominable crime against nature by having unnatural and carnal copulation with a female dog,” according to the charging document.
The Yukon resident had been charged in June 2022 with attempted crimes against nature (a felony), or in the alternative, outraging public decency (a misdemeanor).
Yukon Police were notified April 27, 2022, that the defendant “had attempted to perform sexual acts” with the dog, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in district court.
The affidavit, signed by a Yukon police detective, describes the alleged acts in graphic detail. The incident was reportedly observed by two people who responded after hearing the dog yelp.
Gerlt appeared with his attorney Jason Spanich at an Oct. 16th hearing before Canadian County Special Judge David H. Halley.
PLEA DEAL
As part of a plea agreement between prosecutors and the defense, Gerlt received a five-year suspended sentence in state Department of Corrections custody – except for the first 180 days in the county jail. He was given credit for time served.
Gerlt is to have “no contact with animals” while on probation and will receive counseling for six months after his release, according to the court minute.
He must pay a $50 fine and $50 victim’s compensation assessment.
Judge Halley accepted the no contest plea after noting the parties “have stipulated to the probable cause affidavit as well as the offer of proof.”
In a May 2022 interview with a Yukon police investigator, Gerlt admitted that he had sexually assaulted the dog “on more than one occasion” and “was completely nude during the incident.”
Attempted crimes against nature is punishable by up to five years in prison.
Outraging public decency is punishable by up to one year in the county jail and/or a $500 fine.
