PACIFIC COUNTY — After nearly four years of ongoing issues with “roaming goats” on Nelson Road in Raymond, the situation came to a head. It was not because a man snapped several months ago over what has been referred to as a “years-long” nightmare, but because he sold his home and the new owner is now dealing with the same repetitive issue.
The Pacific County Sheriff’s Office was notified on June 18 that goats belonging to Jean Reigel — owner and president of House Goat Haven, whose full name is Willow J. Reigel — were on a neighbor’s property.
The sheriff’s office has handled dozens of calls since 2022 involving her goats roaming off her property and onto neighbors’ yards. The most notable incident was the disappearance of a goat that led to speculation of foul play.
New owner, same issue
Just four months ago, the property belonged to Nelson Stamper, who had dealt with the goat issue since at least 2022. He reported dozens of incidents with the goats to the sheriff’s office; the situation quickly escalated and came to a head on March 22.
On March 22, at 5:26 p.m., the sheriff’s office responded to an alleged harassment call where an individual was reportedly violating an anti-harassment order. The order had been put in place through Pacific County North District Court in hopes of ending the ongoing feud between the parties.
At the time, Stamper was reportedly walking along the property line that separated the parcels, antagonizing Reigel’s animals — an act allegedly caught on video. Nothing came of the incident at that moment.
However, the sheriff’s office was dispatched back to the residence just hours later.
“At approximately [8:10 p.m. [Lyle B. Sexton, Reigel’s spouse] and Reigel contacted PacCom, stating that Nelson was yelling at their animals again, and had started walking up their driveway,” Deputy Rylee Queener stated in court documents. “Sexton had armed himself with a firearm, and was walking down the driveway to confront Stamper, while armed with a firearm.”
Stamper was subsequently arrested and booked into the Pacific County Jail for one count of felony harassment. As of Aug. 1, the case remains ongoing in Pacific County Superior Court, and Stamper remains out of custody pending trial.
According to county records, Stamper sold his home on May 12. The new owner has reported issue after issue since moving into the residence regarding Reigel’s roaming goats, noting that it has drastically impacted her quality of life.
Enough is enough
After multiple incidents were reported by the new owner, the sheriff’s office was again dispatched on June 18. Deputy and detective Cory Nacnac was assigned the call and, per public records, reached out to the new owner via cell phone.
The owner informed him that Reigel’s goats were “repeatedly coming onto her property.”
“On her property, the goats would eat her plants and defecate on her lawn,” Nacnac said in the investigation report. “[She] states she is a gardener, but due to the goats’ repeated encroachment onto her property, she is unable to garden and feels as though she is trapped in her house. She explained that almost every time she leaves the house, the goats come onto her property to further browse, blight, and befoul her yard.”
“[She] stated that when she had first moved in approximately a month earlier, Reigel had provided her with her phone number. During our later interview, [she] provided a screenshot of the contact information Reigel had given her,” Nacnac added.
The new owner met with Nacnac and deputy and detective Kevin Acdal on June 25 and provided documentation of incidents with the goats. This included photographs and videos from May 28, May 29, twice on June 9, June 10, June 13, June 18, June 19, June 21, June 23, June 24, and June 25.
Nacnac recommended that Reigel face a criminal violation for each incident, totaling 12 misdemeanor counts of animals at large.
According to the incident report, Sexton went to the sheriff’s office on June 29 to speak with investigators.
“Sexton questioned how I knew who the animals belonged to,” Nacnac said in the incident report. “I explained to him that I believed the goats belonged to Reigel because she was listed as being involved with the non-profit corporation — House Goat Haven. Sexton explained that he was the chief financial officer of House Goat Haven.”
“I showed Sexton some of the videos and photos submitted by the [alleged victim], and he identified the goat depicted in IMG 3705 as his. I asked Sexton if he would go through all the pictures and videos and identify the owner of each goat, but he declined and stated, ‘You issue every one of the citations to Jean.’ I asked if they were Reigel’s goats or his, and he stated, ‘We are gonna say they are hers.’”
“I reminded him that he had just claimed ownership of at least one of the goats, and he responded by stating, ‘Probably half of them are mine.’ Because Sexton admitted owning the goat depicted in IMG 3705 and further admitted that ‘probably half’ of the goats were his, the evidence also supports a probable cause belief that Sexton violated [the law],” Nacnac added.
Nacnac also informed Sexton that before coming to law enforcement, the owner had attempted to reach out directly to Reigel multiple times.
Reigel subsequently messaged Nacnac’s phone from a second number — not the one she provided to the neighbor — and claimed she “was not ignoring any messages from anyone.”
According to the investigation report, Nacnac reached back out to Reigel and Sexton on July 9 and eventually received a call back from Reigel. He activated his body camera and captured the conversation.
“Reigel stated, ‘My animals had permission to be over there,’” Nacnac said in the incident report. “She also stated that she told [the neighbor] twice that the phone number she had was not correct. Reigel alleged that by not immediately contacting her after receiving [the neighbor’s] report, she was essentially the victim of entrapment. Reigel indicated that it was the victim’s — or law enforcement’s — fault because she had not been contacted and thus could not have known about the issue.”
“I explained to Reigel that she was the one with a duty to keep her animals contained within her property, and that this was a long-running problem. Reigel then responded alleging all previous complaints were lies. I began telling her that I had personally been called out to her neighbor’s property in the past and had personally seen her goats at large on the neighbor’s property. Reigel then terminated the call,” Nacnac added.
Nacnac subsequently sent his findings off for a charging decision.
However, it was not the end of the situation. On July 23 at 12:41 p.m., Nacnac and Acdal were dispatched for a “suicidal subject” after dispatch reported being on the phone with a party making suicidal comments.
Another incident
According to public records, Nacnac and Acdal arrived on scene at 12:56 p.m. and Acdal informed dispatch over the radio: “Subject barricaded herself in the building,” and “FYI, we do have [probable cause] for violation of anti-harassment order.”
At 1:09 p.m., Sexton called dispatch demanding “to know why they are at his property.” At 1:23 p.m., Acdal asked dispatch to contact the mobile crisis unit. At 1:32 p.m., Nacnac and Acdal cleared the call.
The neighbor — the alleged victim — told deputies that she had heard ongoing loud verbal arguments between Sexton and Reigel because Sexton was reportedly getting rid of some of the goats to ease the situation.
Available court databases do not show any criminal filings against Reigel for the time period of the incidents between May and July.
