INDIANAPOLIS | A dangerous sexual predator plans to move into Gary, but police wouldn't know that by scanning his rap sheet, Lake County Sheriff's Detective Michelle Weaver told lawmakers on Wednesday.

Michael Bessigano's name wasn't uttered, but the region native is the reason state legislators are considering making it a crime to have sexual contact with animals.

"Those who practice bestiality are sexual predators," Weaver told the House Courts and Criminal Code Committee. " We have one of the worst ones in the United States in Indiana. He gets out ... in May and he will be living in our county."

Bessigano, 36, was convicted of animal abuse after admitting to stealing a farm chicken in 2001 and taking it to Valparaiso motel where he killed the animal while having sex with it. He was paroled from prison last month and plans to move to an assisted living center in Gary after completing a jail time for previous probation violation in Cass County.

Bessigano has a long history of incidents involving farm animals or neighbors' pets, but his arrest record mostly shows theft or trespassing charges. Weaver told lawmakers that, in such cases, police need to know what type of criminal they're dealing with.

"They don't just stick to animals," she warned.

House Bill 1387, which advanced on 10-0 vote, would make bestiality a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year behind bars and a fine of up to $5,000. The crime would become a felony worth up to three years in prison if the animal suffers extreme pain or death.

"I think our constituents would be surprised to learn that bestiality is not a crime in state code," said Rep. Eric Koch, R-Bedford.

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Linda Lawson, D-Hammond, also would make it a crime to harm or kill a family pet in furtherance of domestic abuse. Weaver told lawmakers of a Lake County who man repeatedly smothered his 8-year-old stepdaughter's Siberian husky puppy and threatened to kill the animal if she told anyone about abuse at home.