As pig heals, teen charged

A third person is accused of an attack on farm animals.

By BEN MONTGOMERY, Times Staff Writer
Published September 22, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [KEN HELLE | Times] Cornelia Winn, 18, pets her pet pig, named "Big Pig." Cornelia said she has taken care of Big Pig for the last 6-7 years. One time hunters came to the stables and shot Big Pig, he survived. Now Cornelia is hoping he will survive his first knife fight.

SUN CITY CENTER - Big Pig was so gentle he drank Coke from a bottle, let kids tickle his tummy and sat on command, like a dog.

Three drunken men tried to slay the 400-pound hog early Sunday, sheriff's deputies say. They stuck him with a pocket knife and tied him to a truck with a garden hose.

Big Pig would not die.

Now the third person tied to the beer-fueled cruelty at Sun City Stables is under arrest.

Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies say Logan Lyle Lamothe, 16, of Wimauma, was arrested Friday and was being held at the Juvenile Assessment Center.

Lamothe and two others - Richard Charles Pinegar III, of Riverview, and William Andrew Lilley, of Gibsonton, both 20 - are charged with animal cruelty, grand theft, burglary of a vehicle, arson, theft and fraudulent use of a credit card.

Deputies say the three spent the day of Sept. 16 drinking beer at Pinegar's house, then decided to go "hunting."

The three stole a car and a truck in the Wimauma area, authorities say.

Sometime between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m., they found their way to Sun City Stables, where they beat a pig to death with a pole and loaded it into a truck, then turned their attention toward Big Pig, deputies say.

Big Pig was stabbed with a pocket knife about 20 times.

Cornelia Winn, who has cared for Big Pig since he was a piglet, found him in the mud the next day, bleeding and covered with ants. He wouldn't eat and acted afraid.

She said the hog's wounds are healing slowly and he has been walking around a little more. "He's still pretty miserable," she said.

One promising sign: Friday morning, Big Pig ate two peanut butter cookies.

Ben Montgomery can be reached at bmontgomery@sptimes.com or 813 661-2443.

[Last modified September 22, 2007, 00:36:49]