Elmore officer charged with online threats

3/4/2010

An Elmore police officer is charged with making online threats against the Arabian Horse Rescue Mission.

Shaun Harder, 23, of Elmore, suspended from his job on an unrelated matter, was arrested Friday after the FBI office in Toledo notified the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office of the online threats, Sheriff Bob Bratton said.

In a statement on the social media Web site Facebook.com, Officer Harder allegedly wrote: “the horses need [people] like us; the Arabian rescue group needs to be slaughtered like livestock,” the sheriff said.

The officer is a longtime volunteer for the Humane Society of Ottawa County and was involved with the rescue of 36 neglected horses taken Jan. 29 from the Carroll Township property of Robin Vess.