CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cleveland man who spent more than a dozen years in prison for three sex crimes involving children is now accused of performing a sex act on a dog in what animal protection advocates said is believed to be the first case charged under a new state law criminalizing bestiality.

Scott Turner, 47, is charged with having sexual contact with an animal, a second-degree misdemeanor. Turner was issued a summons to appear Oct. 5 in Cleveland Municipal Court.

The new law went into effect on March 21. That charge carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail.

Turner was taking care of a woman's dog, named Athena, on May 13 when he gave the dog oral sex, Cleveland Animal Protection League President Sharon Harvey.

Turner wrote a letter admitting what he did. Harvey declined to say who the letter was sent to. But that letter was turned over to APL investigators, Harvey said. Turner admitted to APL investigators that he wrote the letter and abused the dog, according to court records.

"This is an unspeakable act," Harvey said. "But at least now we finally have something we can do about it."

Harvey said without the new law, investigators' only option was to try and charge an offender under the existing animal cruelty laws. But that proved difficult because prosecutors must prove the animal suffered cruelness.

"The victim in these cases couldn't testify, of course, so they were difficult cases," Harvey said.

Some Ohio municipalities had previously criminalized bestiality under their own city codes. But Ohio did not criminalize it until March.

All but five states -- Kentucky, Hawaii, New Mexico, West Virginia and Wyoming-- and Washington D.C. have laws criminalizing bestiality, according to Leighann Lassiter, the director of animal cruelty policy for the Humane Society of the United States. The group pushed to get the Ohio anti-bestiality law passed and successfully pushed four other states to pass similar laws.

Lassiter said the laws are important not only to protect the animals being abused but to protect children that the offenders may come into contact with. The FBI in 2016 began collecting information on animal abuse cases, including bestiality, as part of their Uniform Crime Report because of the strong link between animal abuse and violence against people.

Lassiter said studies have shown that 40 percent of sex offenders whose victims are children have admitted at one point to engaging in bestiality.

"Animal sexual abuse is the number one indicator of someone who would sexually abuse a child," Lassiter said. "This is a very real way to protect children from people who could be sexual predators."

Turner was released from prison in 2015 after serving 12 years and eight months in prison, according to state prison records.

Turner on July 25, 2003 was babysitting five boys between the ages of 6 and 12 when he paid a 9-year-old boy $1 to fondle another boy while he watched.

Police investigated the case and later learned that he had also performed a sex act on a 9-year-old boy while they watched a pornographic video in 2002, according to court records.

Investigators also found that Turner repeatedly sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl and had attacked her as many as 10 times.

In the three cases, Turner pleaded guilty to 16 counts of rape, including six with sentencing enhancements for being a violent sexual predator, 11 counts of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles, five counts of kidnapping with sexual motivation, five counts of importuning three counts of compelling prostitution, three counts of complicity to gross sexual imposition and one count of gross sexual imposition.

Turner must register his address with the county sheriff every 90 days for the rest of his life. He is on post-prison release supervision until September 2020.

This map shows the current laws criminalizing bestiality each state in the country.

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