Man linked to New Orleans horse sex jailed in California after horse assaulted there | Crime/Police

A man whose DNA was found in the City Park stables after two horses were sexually molested last year has been arrested in California for allegedly breaking into stables there and sexually assaulting at least one horse.

In January, New Orleans police said they were looking for Koshaun Dion Baker after they found his DNA in the park stables where someone had engaged in sex acts with two horses. Since then, there had been no sign of Baker, until last month, when he turned up behind bars in Marin County. 

The 23-year-old is scheduled to appear in a California court on Monday, Marin County jail records show. He remains in law-enforcement custody in lieu of $150,000 bond.

Police in New Orleans first began looking into Baker after a man let himself into the stables in the 1000 block of Filmore Avenue about 2:15 a.m. on Dec. 15 and committed sex acts with two horses, including one owned by Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman’s office.

Authorities have never specified what the sex acts were. But police found DNA evidence at the scene that they said matched a sample from Baker that was previously stored in an FBI database.

Details about any potential past criminal record for Baker haven’t been made publicly available, so it is unclear why his DNA was in the FBI database.

Nonetheless, police secured a warrant to swab Baker’s cheek and compare that sample to the DNA recovered from the stables. They stopped short of saying Baker was wanted for a crime, but asked for the public to call police if they saw him out and about.

Baker had yet to be picked up on that warrant when the Presidio Riding Club — part of California’s Golden Gate National Recreation Area — reported that someone had broken in, vandalized the facility and let about 10 horses stabled there go.

Federal rangers searched the area for a suspect and detained Baker, according to a media report from the Marin Independent Journal. The rangers booked Baker into a local lockup on counts of sexual assault on an animal, cruelty to animals, burglary, vandalism, disorderly conduct, resisting police, and being under the influence of drugs, jail records show.

Authorities in California did not detail the alleged sexual assault. A spokesperson for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area told the Marin Independent Journal that none of the horses required veterinary treatment, and all of the animals were returned to the stables.

Burglary, vandalism and animal cruelty are felonies. The rest of the counts, including sexual assault on an animal, are listed as misdemeanors.

In Louisiana, sexual abuse of an animal is a felony carrying up to five years in prison upon a first conviction. A second conviction would double the maximum punishment to 10 years behind bars.

California jail records describe Baker as a resident of San Francisco. Other public records available online list an address for him in Baton Rouge.