Men accused of beating turtle and Navy vet who tried to stop attack plead not guilty

Two men accused of beating a Navy veteran when he tried to keep them from killing a turtle pleaded not guilty Thursday in court.

A crowd of people showed up at the courthouse in support of the veteran, who is still recovering from the attack last month.

Gary Blough, 45, said he's still in immense pain and cannot walk without the help of a cane because of damage to his hip.

He said his right eye was injured so badly in the attack, he may lose it.

But Blough said it's not so much the nagging and chronic injuries that he suffered after police said he was attacked by two young men and a 16-year-old boy on Feb. 14 that bother him the most.

“It just disgusts me that somebody does stuff like this,” he said.

Blough said he saw the suspects abusing the turtle at his apartment complex.

“One by one each of them picked it up and smashed it down,” he said. “That was just disgusting. To see someone psychotically laughing, and there are kids crying.”

Blough said that when he tried to step in and stop them, the trio turned their rage onto him and began to beat him.

Police arrived and arrested Ryan Ponder, Johnnie Berveritt and 16-year-old Alfred Chico.

Ponder and Berveritt pleaded not guilty Thursday to battery and animal cruelty charges.

Blough was also in court, with others who came to support him and what he did to try to save the turtle.

The suspects may spend the next five years in prison for the turtle beating.

Beveritt and Ponder remain in jail on $15,000 bonds.

They are due back in court next month.

Chico’s case is being handled in juvenile court.

Cox Media Group