Pet-Abuse.Com - Animal Abuse Case Details: Pit bull fighting, chaining dogs

Cruelty Database » Case Details

Case Snapshot

Case ID: 1205

Classification: Fighting

Animal: dog (pit-bull)

More cases in Lake County, CO

More cases in CO

Login to Watch this Case

For more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.

CONVICTED: Was justice served?

Please vote on whether or not you feel the sentence in this case was appropriate for the crime. (Be sure to read the entire case and sentencing before voting.)

weak sentence = one star
strong sentence = 5 stars

more information on voting

When you vote, you are voting on whether or not the punishment fit the crime, NOT on the severity of the case itself. If you feel the sentence was very weak, you would vote 1 star. If you feel the sentence was very strong, you would vote 5 stars.

Please vote honestly and realistically. These ratings will be used a a tool for many future programs, including a "Peoples Choice" of best and worst sentencing, DA and judge "report cards", and more. Try to resist the temptation to vote 1 star on every case, even if you feel that 100 years in prison isnt enough.

Currently 5.00/5
1
2
3
4
5

Case #1205 Rating: 5.0 out of 5

Pit bull fighting, chaining dogs
Leadville, CO (US)

Incident Date: Tuesday, Nov 19, 2002
County: Lake

Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Convicted

Defendant/Suspect: Ruben Pacheco

Case Updates: 1 update(s) available

Ruben Pacheco has moved his pit bulls to a property in Southern Colorado, despite a cease-and-desist order issued by the state vet's office forbidding him to keep more than 15 dogs or breed them until issued a breeder�s license.

State veterinarian Dr. Keith Roehr has charged Pacheco with violating that order issued to him in Leadville following a 9Wants to Know investigation last November. That's when Pacheco was found to be raising 22 pit bulls on a piece of property in the mountains. The dogs were all chained to trees.

Roehr says Pacheco is now keeping 21 adult dogs and two litters of seven puppies 30 miles south of Pueblo. Roehr says that is in direct violation of state breeder's laws that limit non-breeders to owning 15 or fewer dogs. Pacheco does not have a breeder�s license.

"If someone has more than fifteen dogs, then it requires some sort of facility to humanely house them and keep them,� said Roehr. "Specifically, if you have more than fifteen [dogs] you can't tether them and they can't be on chains and he [Pacheco] still has some dogs on chains."

Pacheco must pay $1,000 in fines and get rid of all but 15 pit bulls.

Case Updates

A man who prosecutors say broke into the Douglas Animal Shelter to take back several pit bulls scheduled for euthanasia was bound over for trial in 8th District Court on a felony burglary charge.

Reuben Pacheco, 37, was first arrested in March 2005 on 11 counts of animal cruelty when police officers responded to a dog fight. The 11 pit bulls, ranging in age from puppies to 10 years old, were impounded at the shelter after a veterinarian treated two for bite wounds and deemed all the dogs severely neglected and possibly abused, a court affidavit stated.

Pleading guilty to the cruelty counts in Circuit Court, Pacheco served 13 days in jail and was sentenced to six months of probation, during which time he was banned from owning any animals, according to court documents. Judge Vince Case also ordered the 11 canines, suspected of being used as fighting dogs, put down.

After Pacheco was released from jail on April 5, someone cut through the shelter�s chain-link fence and broke five of the pit bulls out from the animal shelter, prosecutors say. At the scene, investigators found tire tracks and shoe prints n one tennis shoe and one boot, the same footwear Pacheco had left jail wearing.
The Douglas shelter is run by the nonprofit group Friends of the Animals. Board member Kim Pynchon said fortunately, no other animals escaped when the fence was cut.

�These were potentially fighting pit bulls,� she said, and staff members had been instructed not to handle the dogs and to keep them separated from other animals. At the shelter�s request, the Humane Society offered a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest of whoever broke into the shelter and stole the animals.

A warrant for Pacheco�s arrest was issued April 22, but by then, the man had apparently fled. Finally, on Dec. 29, police in Fairplay, Colo., picked Pacheco up on the Wyoming warrant.

Pacheco was the same man who fell into disfavor with law enforcement officials in Leadville, Colo., in 2002 when a Denver television station, KUSA, exposed him for keeping 22 pit bulls chained to trees, Converse County Undersheriff Steve Nunez said.

Pacheco is now charged with felony burglary, which is punishable by up to $10,000 in fines and 10 years in jail. He is being held in the Converse County jail on a $20,000 cash bond after Case bound the charges over to District Court Jan. 3. An arraignment hearing is set Feb. 2 in District Court.

Source: Casper Star Tribune - Jan 25, 2006
Update posted on Jan 25, 2006 - 11:21AM

Back to Top

References

- March 4, 2003
« CO State Animal Cruelty Map
« More cases in Lake County, CO
Not sure what these icons mean? Click here.

Note: Classifications and other fields should not be used to determine what specific charges the suspect is facing or was convicted of - they are for research and statistical purposes only. The case report and subsequent updates outline the specific charges. Charges referenced in the original case report may be modified throughout the course of the investigation or trial, so case updates, when available, should always be considered the most accurate reflection of charges.

For more information regarding classifications and usage of this database, please visit the database notes and disclaimer.

Site Map ¤ Disclaimer ¤ Privacy Policy

Pit bull fighting, chaining dogsLeadville, CO (US)

Case Updates

References

Pit bull fighting, chaining dogs
Leadville, CO (US)