[dramatic music]
- Good morning.
- How are you? - I'm good.
How are you doing? - Good.
All right, wh--question, what are you doing?
♪ ♪
- 60-year-old Mary Alston
and 84-year-old Beverly Roberts have been
trapping stray cats for many years,
trying, they say, to help stop
the growing feral cat population in their area.
- We're not professionals by any means.
- Right, yeah. [laughing]
I mean, we're just-- we were just a two-man team.
- Right, just trying to change the lives
for a few little kitties in need.
- All right, well, we got a call that somebody was
out here feeding the cats and stuff like that, so--
- Okay. You have your driver's license with you, ma'am?
- Yeah.
- Where do you take 'em once you trap 'em?
[laughing] They got three-- y'all have three cop cars
because I'm feeding cats? - No, we always--
- Wow. - We always do this.
It's fine. - That's unbelievable.
All right, driver's license.
- Thank you, ma'am. - Mm-hmm.
- All right, give me just a second, Ms. Alston.
- Okay.
I'm thinking, it took three of y'all
to come up here and surround me because I'm feeding cats?
[both laugh]
♪♪ ♪
- It's city property. - This is city property.
- Yeah, and the city does not want anybody feeding
the animals around here,
because they're becoming a nuisance.
- I'm trying to help that nuisance by catching 'em.
I mean, you should-- they should be thanking me.
I've got a trap set right there trying to help catch 'em
and get 'em out of here. - Okay.
All right, you have a good one.
- I was sitting there in my car,
trying to figure out what in the world just happened.
My anxiety is up. They had me so nervous.
Beverly drove up to make sure I was okay
or see if I needed anything.
She had only been there just a few minutes
and had not even gotten out of her car
when they came driving back up.
[radio chatter]
- Well, for trespassing. We told you to leave,
and you haven't left.
♪ ♪
I could take you to jail now. I'm not trying to do that.
Ma'am, do you have your driver's license with you?
- Thank you, ma'am.
♪ ♪♪
- While officers check Beverly's ID,
they learn that she'd previously been warned
about trespassing in another location
also while feeding and trapping stray cats.
- All right, Ms. Roberts, apparently they've had an issue
with you out here before with the cats.
- Okay.
Okay? - I'm sitting in my car.
I'm not--I haven't touched-- - Well, you're on the--
you're--ma'am, you're on the property.
You've got cat food, okay?
It's pretty-- I mean, all in the back seat.
It's pretty--it's pretty clear what your intent is, okay?
- Uh-huh. - All right, so...
- All right, Ms. Roberts, I'm gonna have to get you
to step out, okay?
- Well, ma'am, you're already trespassing.
- [bleep].
You all are unbelievable.
This is what you're wasting city gas on.
Ugh. [bleep].
♪ ♪♪
- I'm not gonna--listen to me.
- Uh-huh. - Listen.
Oh, no, where are you going?
- I'm gonna give her my car keys
so she can get my car to my house.
- I do wanna say one thing to you.
- Hey.
It's gonna get ugly if you don't stop.
♪♪ ♪
- Can I please say something--
- Can I say one thing?
- [laughing]
- No, I--
- Can I get my car off the road?
- I need my--
- Listen.
- It just was ridiculous.
And I was really kind of mad.
Isn't there something else in the city going on?
[laughs]
Then I realized that, hey,
they were gonna take me to jail.
This wasn't on my bucket list.
♪ ♪
- Eventually, Mary was also arrested for trespassing.
- Yes, ma'am, and I had every intention
of putting those handcuffs in the front for you
until you started acting like that.
- We were taken to jail,
booked and fingerprinted and mugshot.
We were there for several hours.
All right. Ah.
- Easy. - Ooh, ow.
[yelping]
At one point they put us in a cell,
in a cage really.
- In a cage. - A cage.
- Like we were bank robbers and...
- [laughing] Yeah. - Gonna try to escape, I guess.
- Beverly was charged with criminal trespassing
and disorderly conduct,
while Mary was charged with criminal trespassing
and obstructing governmental operations.
Both women were later found guilty and sentenced
to ten days in jail and two years' probation.
But their sentences were suspended.
- We've never gone to jail, and we didn't want to.
- Mary and Beverly filed an appeal
to Elmore County Circuit Court.
But while awaiting their court dates,
the city decided to drop the cases against them.
♪ ♪