Originally published on TheRoots/Kalyn Womack
What in the American Horror Story do we have here? A Black Colorado family recently repaired their ranch following some flood damage, only for their white neighbors to terrorize both them and their livestock. According to 9News, however, their complaints about the stalking and harassment actually backfired on them.
Courtney W. Mallery and his wife Nicole own the Freedom Acres Ranch, a 1,000-acre plot of land with a range of goats, pigs, chickens and every good thing a farm should have. Then, in 2020, they began waking up to beheaded, butchered and missing animals. Graphic images shared with Ark Republic showed baby goats that were allegedly poisoned and a cow with its insides spilling on the ground.
The Mallerys claim their white neighbors are to blame for these heinous acts, which are also possibly racially motivated. And if that’s the case, their neighbors didn’t stop at the animals: they also allegedly tried to kill and butcher the couple as well.
Frequently, they must replace surveillance equipment after they see strangers pointing a device towards their cameras which ends up jamming them and taking out the signal. Plus, their electricity lines have been cut and neighbors have stolen well water by running an illegal line from their source.
One day, Courtney was chased by a white man when repairing a portion of his fence. The aggressor, who was in a car, gunned for Courtney who made it to his vehicle in just enough time to dash away in a hellish pursuit. Once he made it to the end of his property, the man steered the other way.
One evening, Nicole was followed by a white woman who almost ran her car off the road then put on high beams and pulled out what looked like a gun. The confrontation was exceptionally unnerving because Nicole was returning from a church function with her visiting nieces and nephew.
Mr. Mallery told Ark Republic this is all a ploy to take his land, which El Paso County Sheriff Emory Gerhart allegedly condoned. The Mallerys say he’d been notified of the events happening at the ranch but hadn’t made a single police report. After two years and 19 complaints, six restraining orders and 170 calls, the sheriff threatened to arrest the couple if they dialed 911 again, Nicole said.
Unfortunately, he kept his promise.
On Monday, the Mallerys were arrested on felony warrants for stalking. Despite their extensive allegations, the one harassment complaint filed against the Mallerys seemed to be the only one that stuck, per 9News. Now, the NAACP is stepping in.
“I would really hope that the El Paso County Sheriff’s department and several others in rural areas understand that we’re taking this very seriously,” said Portia Prescott, president of the Rocky Mountain NAACP via 9News. “It needs to be taken a lot more seriously than they have taken it in the past,” Prescott said.
