Dog-fighting - 17 dogs seized
Detroit, MI (US)Incident Date: Monday, Jan 19, 2009
County: Wayne
Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged:
» Marlon Anthony Rogers
» Corey Clark
» Anthony Rockette
» Angelic Washington
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
Prosecutors today charged four people with felonies, including animal fighting and animal cruelty, in connection with Monday's pit bull fighting bust in Detroit.
Marlon Anthony Rogers, 45, of Rochester Hills, Corey Clark, 31, of Detroit, Anthony Rockette, 20, of Detroit and Angelic Washington, 47, of Detroit, face various charges stemming from a police raid at a vacant home on Mt. Vernon early Monday morning in which 17 pit bulls were seized. The Michigan Humane Society's Cruelty Division headed the subsequent investigation.
Detroit Animal Control officials have said that many of the dogs were severely wounded from fighting and malnourished and would most likely be put to death.
Rogers, Clark and Washington are also charged with being habitual offenders.
The animal fighting charges are punishable by up to five years in prison. The cruelty charges are punishable by up to four years in prison.
Clark is not charged with animal fighting or cruelty but faces a felony charge of attending an animal fight, which is punishable by up to four years in prison.
Police originally arrested nine people but only the four have been charged so far. An investigation is continuing.
Case UpdatesMany of the pit bulls seized in a dogfighting bust Monday were malnourished and neglected and could be put to death, an animal control official said Tuesday.
"Some of the puppies are absolute skeletons," said Harry Ward, manager of Detroit Animal Control. "Some puppies and adults have pretty severe wounds that are consistent with dogfighting, and there are some with pretty major infections and gaping wounds."
Detroit Police arrested nine people after raiding a dogfighting den in a vacant home on the 500 block of Mt. Vernon. They also seized 17 pit bulls -- 11 puppies and six adults.
The city's animal control division is housing the dogs in cooperation with the Michigan Humane Society, Ward said.
"A fairly good number of them will be candidates for euthanasia for humane reasons," Ward said.
The humane society's Detroit office and the animal control division do not adopt out pit bulls because too many of them are used for fighting, Ward said.
But Gloria Postell, 54, a social worker from Detroit, wishes they would reconsider that policy.
"To paint them all as aggressive, I have a problem with that," said Postell, who owns a 10-year-old pit bull mix named Fayth. "Even Michael Vick's dogs were adopted," she said, referring to the former NFL quarterback who was convicted of dogfighting.
The humane society's cruelty investigation took over the case on Tuesday, said Detroit Police spokesman James Tate. Prosecutors worked on finalizing animal cruelty and dogfighting charges against the nine suspects, seven men and two women. | Source: Detroit Free Press - Jan 21, 2009
Update posted on Jan 21, 2009 - 8:20PM |
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