Two Tannersville residents suspected of leaving a cow's head at a Jackson Township sanctuary in March face charges of ethnic intimidation and harassment, according to criminal complaints filed Monday.

Kimberly Ann McKee, 19, and her boyfriend Ricky Strausser, 25, also face charges of criminal conspiracy, loitering and prowling at nighttime, criminal trespass, disorderly conduct and scattering rubbish.State police at Fern Ridge said the cow's head was left at Lakshmi Cow Sanctuary overnight between March 19 and March 20.The duo voluntarily went to the Swiftwater state police barracks to admit to the actions.Sanctuary resident and caretaker Dr. Sankar Sastri is Hindu, a religion which celebrates cows as a sacred symbol of life. Sastri had been living at the sanctuary, which houses around 20 cows rescued from potential abuse and slaughter, for a month before the incident.McKee told police she knew what they did was wrong, and after thinking about it, did consider it a hate crime. The most serious charge, ethnic intimidation, is a second-degree misdemeanor.She drove a 2006 GMC Sierra while Strausser sat in the bed of the truck with the cow's head, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed by trooper Carrie Gula at District Magistrate Colleen Mancuso's office in Brodheadsville.After disposing of the head at the sanctuary, the two left and Strausser cleaned the blood from the bed of the truck the following morning.A property owner who lives near the sanctuary had slaughtered his brown Swiss dairy breed cow on March 18, but the head went missing.One day later a "gathering of local residents and friends was hosted at a home near the sanctuary," Gula wrote. "Discussion led to conspiring to obtain the cow's head and dump it at the sanctuary. Interviews conducted indicated those at the gathering were angry (Sastri) had moved in and blocked off trails on his property for cows."Police said the group felt if they left the cow's head, it would scare Sastri into leaving."Interviews also suggested they thought it would be humorous if (Sastri) were to find the head and think it was one of his own, causing him to panic and count his cows," according to Gula.Preliminary hearings for both have been scheduled for 10 a.m. June 10.