Raccoon skinning leads to arrest of at-large parolee, registered sex offender

South Lake Tahoe police arrested a man on Monday for allegedly skinning a raccoon after a foot chase ended on the South Tahoe Middle School ball field.

Kevin Burroughs, 37, faces several charges including unlawful taking of wildlife. He is also a parolee and a registered sex offender out of California and had a felony warrant for being a parolee-at-large. The raccoon’s remains were recovered and destroyed by Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care.

The following is taken from a news release by Lt. David Stevenson, South Lake Tahoe Police Department:

Raccoon Skinning Leads To Capture Of Parolee at Large/Registered Sex Offender

On Monday, August 19, 2013, at about 2:30 pm, South Lake Tahoe Police Officers Eissinger and Sgt. Williams responded to the corner of Modesto and Harrison Avenues on report of a man using a large knife to skin an animal in the open lot between the Snow Flake Drive-in and the Tahoe Daily Tribune. When the officers arrived they discovered a man with bloody hands and an almost completely skinned raccoon. As Officers began talking to the man, he began running away from them west on Harrison Avenue. Both officers gave chase.

As other Police Officers and El Dorado County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to assist, Eissinger and Williams chased the man almost a full block on Harrison, then across all 5 lanes of U.S. 50, and then northbound on Los Angeles Avenue a few more blocks to Rufus Allen Blvd. There, the man began running toward the area of St. Theresa’s School.

The man jumped a fence into the parking lot area of St. Theresa’s School/Church and then ran across Lyons Blvd. and onto the baseball fields next to South Tahoe Middle School. The man was surrounded by responding officers and laid down on the baseball field. Officers approached the man and he was taken into custody. Officers never saw a knife on the man and one was not located in a subsequent search of the area.

The man initially refused to identify himself, but later investigation revealed him to be 37-year-old Kevin Burroughs. Burroughs is a parolee and a registered sex offender out of California and had a felony warrant for being a Parolee at Large.

Burroughs was booked into the El Dorado County Jail on the following charges:

2002 Fish and Game Code: Possessing a creature unlawfully taken
148 PC: Resisting arrest
290.013 PC: Failing to register as a sex registrant
626.81 PC: Sex registrant on school grounds
3056 PC: Parolee at large

The raccoon’s remains were recovered and destroyed by Tahoe Wildlife Care.