A Colorado dwarf couple has been arrested and charged with public indecency based on an 1868 law making it illegal for ‘midgets to have sex and or reproduce with each other or any other animal.’
Julio Ribera, 37, and Mary Louise DeVille, 34, were arrested this week by Woody Creek police officers after several complaints from local residents.
The couple had rented a room at a local motel for the week and were apparently seen together at the motel bar only hours before their arrest.
“They were kissing, hugging and flirting in front of everybody, it was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen, except for that homosexual couple last year,” one anonymous local resident admitted to reporters.
“If legislators pass laws, it’s for a good reason. If it says that dwarfs, midgets or little people can’t have sex and or reproduce, our job is to uphold the law” Officer Ted Stevens of the Woody Creek Police Department told reporters.
In 1868, the Territory of Colorado passed a law making it illegal for midgets to ‘have sex and or reproduce with each other or any other animal’ after the Colorado gold rush had attracted thousands of little people to work in the mines.
A large number of residents at the time were alarmed that little people would eventually outnumber the local folks and feared an upcoming “midget uprising” pushing legislators at the time to pass the restrictive law.
According to present Colorado laws, if found guilty the couple could face a Class 1 Misdemeanor for a genital exposure-related conviction punishable by up to 18 months imprisonment and up to $150,000 in fines.
