Dog-fighting - 8 dogs seized - Manning, SC

Sunday, Nov 26, 2006

County: Clarendon

Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Alleged

Alleged:
» Orlando Raynelle Coullette
» Jennifer Elisabeth Lyles
» Gregory Wright
» Ernest Anderson, Jr.
» Aurelio Rodgriguez Bowie
» Adrian Maurice Leneau
» Aaron Shaw
» Elijah Carroll
» Rico Ham
» Booker Washington, III

Case Updates: 2 update(s) available

Eight dogs seized in the dogfight earlier this week have been turned over to the homeowners who hosted the fight, Clarendon County authorities said.

The sheriff's office couldn't afford to pay for the animals' room and board and made the homeowners responsible for the dogs, officials said.

Orlando Raynelle Coullette, 29, and Jennifer Elisabeth Lyles, 22, live at the house where seven people were arrested on Nov 26.

Lyles was arrested on the afternoon of Nov 28 and was released that evening on a $50,000 personal recognizance bond. Authorities are still searching for Coullette.

Lyles will be responsible for the dogs until the court date.

Sheriff Keith Josey said his department did not have a choice.

"The bottom line is we don't have that kind of money," Josey said. "It could be two, three, six months before this case could come before the court. We can't afford it."

It would cost Clarendon County $9.50 per dog per day to house the animals in Columbia, Lt. Tommy Burgess said.

The Clarendon County Sheriff's Office had a local veterinarian treat the dogs before returning them.

Case Updates

The South Carolina Attorney General's Office has taken over prosecution of this case, as well as another dog-fighting case in neighboring Sumter County. Gregory Wright, 37, of Sumter, who was arrested for dog-fighting on November 26, 2006, in Clarendon County, was charged Friday by Sumter County sheriff's deputies with drug trafficking and ill treatment of animals. Mark Plowden, a spokesman for Attorney General Henry McMaster, said prosecutors might seek to have Wright's bail in the Clarendon County case revoked. McMaster formed a task force in 2004 to prosecute animal fighting, acting at the request of local prosecutors who said the cases typically were intertwined with drug trafficking. The defendants in the Clarendon case are still awaiting grand jury indictment, and no court dates have been set.

Source: Third Circuit Court Update posted on May 31, 2007 - 1:19PM

Clarendon County deputies faced a problem after breaking up a pit bull fighting ring last weekend: they couldn't find any local shelters willing to take the dogs. Sunday night, deputies got a tip about a dogfight taking place outside a trailer home at 1638 Jackson Road. When they arrived on scene, they found a few dozens people, eight mistreated fighting dogs, and a $4,000 bet. Lieutenant Tommy Burgess says seven people were arrested that night, and several vehicles were seized as evidence. Deputies say they tried to contact local shelters to take in the animals, but were unsuccessful. Some shelters were too expensive for the Sheriffs Department to afford, and other shelters flat-out refused to take the dangerous pit bulls. Burgess says the eight dogs involved in the fighting-some with lacerations on their head from maulings-had to be left behind. Manning resident Marc Brewer lives just around the corner from where the fighting had taken place. He says the news of the dog-fighting ring surprised him, as did the fact that deputies left the dogs. "I think it's terrible because what are you going to do if you're just going to turn them back over [to the suspects' custody]? It seems pointless to even pursue it in the first place," Brewer said. The Attorney General's office is now prosecuting the case. When Attorney General Henry McMaster heard deputies had done all they could, his task force stepped in to help. "The dogs are bred and trained to fight and if put out with other dogs, they will fight, so you can't take them to the pound," McMaster said. Through the Attorney General's office and the SLED Task Force on Dog Fighting, authorities contacted shelters capable of handling the fighting dogs. The dogs were taken Tuesday night to the Florence County Animal Control and the Humane Society. "This is a brutal, vicious, horrible thing that we need to get rid of," McMaster said of the dog fighting. Clarendon County deputies say one of the Jackson Road organizers is still at large. 29-year-old Orlando Coullette is wanted for eight counts of dog fighting and one count of cruelty to animals. A second suspected organizer, 22-year-old Jennifer Lyles, turned herself into authorities on Tuesday. Anyone with information on Coullette's whereabouts is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-888-559 TIPS.

Source: WLTX - Nov 30, 2006 Update posted on Dec 3, 2006 - 11:45PM

References

• « SC State Animal Cruelty Map
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