Ronald Roy Grant, 21, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to participating in a dogfight in Gaithersburg in Montgomery County Circuit Court to the felony charge, as well as a charge that he conspired with his cousin, Norman Patrick Blassingame Jr., to hold the fight. The fight took place in January 2002 at a home on Gallop Hill Road.
Blassingame, 19, currently of the 18700 block of Pintail Lane in Gaithersburg, has also been charged in the case and will have his trial on July 14.
"Norman Blassingame is a key figure in this case," Alex Foster, assistant state's attorney prosecuting the case, told Circuit Judge D. Warren Donohue. "Acts of co-conspiracy are by law attributed to all conspirators."
Grant will be sentenced June 27. He could face up to three years in jail and/or a $5,000 fine and may be ordered to undergo psychological counseling. he is currently being held in the Montgomery County Detention Center.
He could also face an additional 90 days in jail for violating probation in a previous animal cruelty case, in which he was convicted of severely beating a pit bull that belonged to his brother.
In September, Gaithersburg police found two pit bulls dead and one severely malnourished in an apartment that Blassingame shared with his girlfriend in the Kentlands community. Videotape found in the apartment � stamped Jan. 11, 2002 � showed scenes of the suspects allegedly forcing several dogs into fights.
Blassingame was arrested Dec. 31. Grant turned himself in to police on Jan. 8.
Prosecutors believe is the first conviction for dogfighting under the state's new felony statute. Case UpdatesA third man has been charged in a Gaithersburg dogfighting case that has already sent one man to prison while another awaits sentencing.
Gerald Bernard Wade, 22, of Gaithersburg, is charged with arranging a dog to be used in a dogfight, a felony that carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $5,000 fine. He may also be ordered to undergo psychological counseling.
Wade has also been charged with being a spectator at a dogfight, a misdemeanor, and with misdemeanor animal cruelty. Each of these charges carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
The videotape shows Wade trying to push his dog's injured eye back into the eye socket before the dog is put back into the fight, according to charging documents.
Wade was served with charging documents in jail on Aug. 18, according to the Montgomery County Department of Correction and Rehabilitation. He is already serving a 16-month sentence at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Clarksburg for violating his probation on drug charges, according to jail records.
Wade has a pretrial hearing for the dogfighting case scheduled for Sept. 16. | | Update posted on Sep 11, 2003 - 7:04PM |
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