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A Suffolk man known for running a farm that offers trail rides and a bed-and-breakfast had his first court appearance Monday on charges he allegedly threatened one of his former employees and stole one of her pigs.

Joseph Vincent Musicaro, 33, who owns and runs Kay’s Acres on Lummis Road, was arrested on the charges on March 26.

He is charged with two felonies, communicating a threat in writing and larceny of an animal. He also is charged with six misdemeanors — entering property with intent to damage, obstruction of justice, stalking causing reasonable fear of death or assault, threaten an illegal act over the telephone, harassment by computer, and using false caller ID with intent to harass.

On Monday, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Carmen Cabrero asked for a continuance to ensure all of her witnesses could be present and to do further investigation. The case was continued to Sept. 10.

According to the criminal complaints on file in General District Court, the victim, who also runs a farm in Suffolk, received messages on Feb. 5 from someone who said they wanted to donate some farming supplies. She drove to the address she was given in North Carolina but was not able to find the location. When she returned home, however, she found that one of her pigs was missing.

She later contacted the number upset that she had driven all that way for nothing, the complaint said. There was no initial response, but then on Feb. 9, she began receiving a string of profanity-laced text messages that lasted until March 10.

Portions of the messages include “They may be on the inside, but we have people on the outside”; “Leave town or die”; “Your goat dies today … so do you”; “Leave Virginia or we kill you and all the animals”; and “Sleep with one eye open.”

According to the complaint, police traced the original phone number to the Burner app. Its Google Play Store description says it “gives you new phone numbers at the push of a button.”

The account owner’s real phone number, the complaint states, turned out to be one Musicaro had provided to police in prior interactions. The Suffolk News-Herald also had this number on file as one Musicaro had provided when the newspaper worked on previous stories about Kay’s Acres.

In addition, the complaint states, a witness “provided a recorded statement that she knew that Joe Musicaro lured (the victim) from her home to remove her pig and also that he had been behind the messages that were sent.”

Musicaro’s attorney, Hugh Black III, declined comment outside the courthouse on Monday.