Dog-fighting - Police bust fight in progress
Bridgeton, NJ (US)Incident Date: Tuesday, May 1, 2007
County: Cumberland
Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Alleged
Case Images: 1 files available
Alleged:
» James H. Riley
» John Calvin Rhett
» Jermaine Hannah
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
Spurred by an anonymous tip, the New Jersey State Police swarmed a Gould Avenue residence Tuesday evening and shut down a reported dogfight in progress.
At press time, charges were being filed against three men, including the property owner, James Riley.
Calvin Rhett and Jermaine Hannah, both of Bridgeton, also face a laundry list of charges, according to animal cruelty investigators.
Hannah already has a May 20 date in Bridgeton Municipal Court to answer existing animal cruelty charges.
"There were frequent fliers here tonight," SPCA executive director Bev Greco said of the suspects.
The police response sent several fight attendees scrambling into nearby woods. Two fight dogs also escaped. Police searched for suspects while animal control officers chased down the dogs.
A preliminary investigation revealed the fight area was set up in a dilapidated side building that investigators said was once used as Doc Riley's barbecue pit.
The pit was encircled with boards to form an enclosure, which was lined with a blood soaked carpet, investigators at the scene said.
Two other pits bulls that appeared to have been severely wounded in a fight were caged in the back of an SPCA van.
"They are in shock," Greco said. The two dogs did not bark or respond to their surroundings.
"They are in pretty bad shape," she said, adding the two animals would have to be euthanized.
While people fled, their cars remained on the property blocked in by state police cruisers.
An armada of tow trucks lined the shoulders of Gould Avenue, preparing to take away at least eight cars impounded by police.
The response was a solid show of force with the State Police contacting Ron Sutton, Fairfield's animal control officer, who in turn alerted the SPCA.
The scene of the dogfight is about two miles from where a duct-taped German shepherd, now named Justice, was found dead and dumped on the side of the road earlier last month.
Case UpdatesIt used to be Doc Riley's, a Gouldtown barbecue pit.
But Tuesday evening, the same ramshackle little shed on Gould Avenue where locals used to go to pick up fresh barbecue was the scene of a bloody organized dogfight, according to authorities.
"They were fighting dogs," James Riley, the 51-year-old wheelchair-bound owner of the property where the dog fight allegedly took place, said Wednesday.
Riley said he did not know the people arrested in connection with the incident, which he claimed took place while he was at dialysis, a treatment he said he receives six times a week.
"I don't get involved with those jitterbugs," he remarked, looking out at the broken yellow shack.
Riley, who has lived at 243 Gould Avenue since 1966, has not been charged in connection with the incident.
Cumberland County SPCA officers charged two other men Wednesday in connection with the incident which allegedly took place in the a wooded area near Buckshutem Road.
Jermaine Hannah, 23, of Green Ave., Bridgeton, and Calvin Rhett, 29, of East Ave., Millville, were arrested on the scene around 6:45 p.m. and charged by SPCA animal cruelty agents with paying admission to an animal fighting event, according to SPCA Executive Director Bev Greco.
State police additionally charged the pair with obstructing the administration of justice, according to a police spokeswoman.
Greco said Wednesday, with a total of eight vehicles seized from the property and several people allegedly witnessed fleeing the scene, more people could be charged.
"(Hannah and Rhett) gave us information as to who else was at the fight. The names they gave are people we're familiar with," she remarked, adding it was possible those names may match up with those to whom the impounded cars are registered.
As for Hannah, Greco said the Bridgeton man was a "frequent flyer" with SPCA agents.
"He had already been facing charges with failure to provide veterinary care to dogs ... for injuries sustained by pit bulls consistent with fighting," she explained.
Tuesday's arrests come less than two weeks after the mutilated body of a German shepherd was found on Gould Avenue about a mile from 243 Gould Avenue.
No one has yet to be arrested in connection with that prior incident and no one has come forward to claim ownership of the purebred animal, according to Greco.
She said the SPCA is looking into whether Tuesday's incident was related to the dead German shepherd.
"They're too close to ignore," Greco said, adding the SPCA has received several tips in regard to that gruesome discovery since announcing an over $10,000 reward for anyone who could provide information leading to an arrest.
The $10,000 was raised by local residents outraged over the discovery of the mutilated dog, which was gutted and missing part of its tongue and rectum.
Between that and Tuesday's incident, it's difficult to determine which is more disturbing.
Horrifying traces of the vicious dogfight remained at the former Doc Riley's barbecue pit Wednesday.
A bucket of bloody water sat in one area of the shed.
A bloody carpet the dogs are believed to have fought on was removed, but the area around the carpet was stained with blood. | Source: Bridgeton News - May 3, 2007
Update posted on May 3, 2007 - 5:42AM |
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