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Swingers use Craigs List to find a sex partner.

shadowcat

Atlanta suburb

PHOENIX -- Three people -- a husband and wife, and her lover -- have been arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit bestiality.

According to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, deputies arrested Pinal County residents Shane Walker and Sarah Dae Walker and Gilbert resident Robert Aucker Monday night.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said the trio used the popular Craigslist classified ads website to find a dog to take part in the act.

Sarah, 34, intended to have sex with a male golden shepherd mix while her 39-year-old husband and Aucker, 30, watched, Arpaio explained in a news release.

This has not the first time Arpaio and his office have been confronted with a bestiality case in which the suspects used Craigslist to find participants.

Deputies made arrests in two similar incidents almost exactly a year ago.

Last summer, an unemployed handyman was sentenced to two years' probation after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit bestiality. About a month later, a former school teacher pleaded not guilty to one misdemeanor count and was sentenced to one year of supervised probation.

Arrested in late February 2011, the perpetrators in both cases used Craigslist to find dogs.

In the wake of those arrests, Arpaio wrote to Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster and asked him to consider implementing better monitoring on the site to prevent these kinds of solicitation ads. MCSO said Buckmaster never responded.

"I remain extremely disappointed in the leadership at Craigslist.com for refusing to do what they can to stop this," Arpaio said in a news release Tuesday. "While they aren't doing anything to stop it, I will continue to enforce all animal cruelty laws."

Shane Walker is a flight attendant while his wife is a self-employed photographer. Aucker is a car salesman.

MCSO said the trio admitted their plans to detectives during interviews.

According to Arpaio, the Walkers describe themselves as "swingers" and have what they call and "open marriage."

Aucker says he and Sarah have been involved in a relationship for about a month. Arpaio said Aucker told detectives Sarah had shared with him her desire to have sex with a dog.

According to court documents, the Walkers planned for three weeks, emailing back and forth with the dog's owner.

Investigators said the Walkers and Aucker drove to the arranged location for the express purpose of engaging in bestiality. MCSO said the trio offered the dog's owner, an undercover detective, the opportunity to take part.

While the trio state their intent for Sarah to have intercourse with the dog, deputies arrested them before anything happened.

"People who do this for enjoyment are a different breed, that's for certain," Arpaio said.

The Walkers and Aucker made their initial court appearances Tuesday. They were released but are subject to electronic monitoring and are not allowed to leave the state. Both the couple and Aucker also were ordered to give up their dogs.

Bestiality, which is legal in some states, was made a class 6 felony in Arizona in 2006.

That law was was proposed and passed after Leroy Johnson, a deputy fire chief for Mesa, was arrested in March 2006. Accused of having sex with his neighbor's lamb, Johnson was charged with disorderly conduct, trespassing and public sexual indecency -- all misdemeanor counts.

Then-Gov. Janet Napolitano signed the law making intercourse with an animal a felony less than three months later.

Conspiracy to commit the act is a misdemeanor.