2 Arrested After Man Put in Cage With Wolf

Two Orange County men have been arrested on suspicion of kidnaping and holding a man inside a cage with a wolf in Twentynine Palms, a San Bernardino County sheriff’s spokesman said Friday.

Officer James Bryant said Bruce Allyn Hutchison, 37, of Newport Beach and John Franklin Sparkman, 39, of Costa Mesa were arrested early Thursday by Newport Beach police at Hutchison’s home and transferred to San Bernardino County, where bail was set at $50,000 each.

Bryant alleged that the men went to the home of Anthony Michael Scimore, 35, in Twentynine Palms at about 3 a.m. Wednesday and “beat him up pretty good.”

The two men then reportedly took Scimore, who rents from Hutchinson, to a second location, where he was beaten again. At the second home, which Hutchison also owns, the two men put Scimore, half nude, in a cage with a black wolf, Bryant said.

“The wolf got in two good bites,” Bryant said, adding that Scimore’s injuries were not serious. But prosecutors added to the charges assault with a deadly weapon--”a canine animal, to wit, a wolf.”

Bryant said the victim was able to escape on his own from the cage, and neighbors who heard the commotion called authorities.

Bryant said the incident was retaliation for Scimore advising the Department of Fish and Game on Tuesday that Hutchison kept the wolf caged in the backyard of the home. A Fish and Game spokesman explained that it is illegal to cage a wolf without a permit and that it could be done only for the wolf’s welfare. A violation is a misdemeanor.

Scimore also told the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department that Hutchison was storing stolen property, Bryant said.

The spokesman said that Hutchison’s wife, Tanya Marie Hutchison, 25, and Raymond Lee Smith, 25, were also arrested in Twentynine Palms on suspicion of kidnaping because both were present Wednesday.

Bryant said investigators recovered video recording equipment that had been reported stolen recently from a public school in the area.