Dog-fighting - 26 dogs seized
Rome, GA (US)Incident Date: Thursday, Jun 11, 2009
County: Floyd
Charges: Misdemeanor, Felony CTA
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged:
» Dominique Ladell Porter
» Marcus Fredriek Beasley
» Kenyatta Kenyon Towers
Case Updates: 3 update(s) available
A raid at a Lindale residence Thursday resulted in the arrest of two men and the recovery of two dozen dogs that police officers reported were being kept in unsanitary conditions. Dog investigators also said it appeared that some of the dogs were being used in a dog fighting operation.
Floyd County Animal Control, Floyd County Police and Norred & Associates cooperated in the raid.
Norred, an Atlanta-based security and investigation firm, had been monitoring the operation for some time and decided it had enough information to take action.
"We got a tip some time ago about this operation, and we took the tip to the Floyd County Animal Control and the Floyd County police," Charles Simmons of Norred said.
The raid resulted in the rescue of 12 adult male pit bulls, three females and six puppies at an Eden Circle home, according to Animal Control.
Dominique Ladell Porter, 26, of 514 Harper Ave., and Marcus Fredriek Beasley, 21, of 223 Pennington Ave., have been charged with 15 counts of misdemeanor cruelty to animals, according to Floyd County Jail records. They were released on $20,250 bail.
Porter, a pressman at the Rome News-Tribune, was previously arrested in January and charged with six counts of felony dog fighting and six misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals.
Simmons, who was also involved in that investigation, said the dogs recovered Thursday were in deplorable conditions.
"These dogs have been essentially living in their own filth," he said.
Officers found the living condition of the dogs to be unsanitary. In the area where the puppies were kept, the odor of rotting feces permeated the air.
The adult dogs, kept in a separate pen, were kept on 4-foot chains that weighed more than the dogs. Simmons lamented some of these dogs will "spend their whole life on those chains."
He said that the dogs were "given food and water from time to time," but he said "there is no food or water present today."
Some dogs were severely injured, showing signs of recent fighting. Most were taken by animal control for examination; some were taken to local veterinary practices for immediate attention.
Lt. Dana Collum of the Floyd County Police Department said dog fighting may be on the rise in Rome because there have been many raids in Northeast Georgia recently, causing the dogfighters to drift to less active dog fighting towns like Rome.
Jason Broome, director of Floyd County Animal Control, said all the dogs will be "evaluated by a veterinarian on Saturday where the scarring and injuries will be documented as evidence." Following the evaluations, Animal Control will work to get the dogs adopted.
Many of the dogs "have adoption potential," and would be eligible for adoption by rescue groups, Broome said.
Kenyatta Towers, who rents the property at 209 Eden Circle in Rome, Ga., will be charged with animal cruelty and dogfighting, said Lt. Dana Collum of the Floyd County Police Department.
Dominique Ladell Porter, 26, of 514 Harper Ave., and Marcus Fredriek Beasley, 21, of 223 Pennington Ave., were charged with 15 counts of misdemeanor cruelty to animals after the seizure, according to jail records.
Case UpdatesKenyatta Towers, a suspect in a Rome dogfighting ring, had his probation revoked today in Floyd County Superior Court by Judge Jack Niedrach.
Towers, 34, of 609 Hardy Ave., was arrested in July and charged with felony dog fighting and 26 counts of cruelty to animals.
He will serve two years in prison as the result of the probation revocation of a 10-year sentence for statutory rape in 2004, according to Floyd County Superior Court records.
Towers was arrested after dogs believed to be used in a fighting ring were found in Lindale.
Also previously arrested in the case were Dominique Ladell Porter, 26, of 514 Harper Ave., and Marcus Fredriek Beasley, 21, of 223 Pennington Ave.
They were charged with 15 counts of misdemeanor cruelty to animals after the seizure, according to jail records.
Norred and Associates Inc., an Atlanta-based private investigation firm, aided police in the operation.
“The judge’s decision confirms to us that the citizens of Georgia and our law enforcement personnel are committed to stopping animal abuse,” says Chuck Simmons, who led this investigation on behalf of Norred and Associates. “We are continually receiving calls on our dog fighting tip line, and we are following up on every single case with an investigation.”
The dog fighting tip line to which Simmons refers is 877-215-2250. Sponsored by Norred and Associates, the hotline is currently available for private citizens in Georgia and Florida who want to report suspected cases of dog fighting anonymously. Individuals may be rewarded up to $5000 for tips that lead to arrests and convictions related to the felony crime.
To date, Norred’s investigations have facilitated the rescue of approximately 300 dogs. Last week, 98 dogs were recovered from a raid Norred conducted with the Laurens County Sheriff’s Department in East Dublin, Georgia. | Source: RN-T.com - Oct 23, 2009
Update posted on Oct 25, 2009 - 11:53AM |
The last four dogs remaining at the Floyd County Animal Control facility on Mathis Road which were seized as part of a fighting ring last week were rescued by the Atlanta Humane Society, according to Animal Control director Jason Broome.
Broome said the dogs, a mother and three puppies, were picked up and taken to the Atlanta Humane Society Thursday.
Seven others, a mother and six puppies, were previously adopted by a Chattanooga-area rescue group.
Twelve of the 26 dogs seized were euthanized Wednesday, and three others were put down earlier
"We had enough interest generated in four dogs, which were a mother and three puppies," Broome said.
Broome said rescue groups have been inundated with pit bulls from dog fighting operations throughout the state and many cannot take any more dogs. He said due to the Floyd County ordinance that classifies pit bulls as vicious dogs, individuals cannot adopt them.
The dogs seized June 11 in Lindale were the result of an investigation by Floyd County police and the Humane Society. The dogs were taken from a residence on Eden Circle, many of them in unsanitary and inhumane conditions. | Source: RN-T.com - Jun 19, 2009
Update posted on Jun 24, 2009 - 1:26PM |
Only seven of 26 pit bulls seized last week in a suspected dog fighting ring have been adopted " 16 will be put to death Wednesday, said Floyd County animal control director Jason Broome.
The seven dogs that have been adopted include an adult female dog and six of her puppies.
Two adults have already been put down because they were severely aggressive, Broome said. A third was euthanized because it had serious infections from being involved in fights.
During Thursday's raid in Lindale, 17 adult pit bulls and nine pit bull puppies were seized.
The dogs cannot be adopted by persons in the county according to a county ordinance, which defines pit bull terriers as vicious animals.
When animals are put down by animal control, they are first sedated and then administered a shot.
"The ordinance is at least 10 or 12 years old," said Broome. "The number one reason we can't adopt them out to citizens of the county is that it s a policy not to adopt out a vicious dog."
Broome said he tried to find some out-of-town rescue groups to take the dogs, but that was unsuccessful.
"...there are so many raids right now, people interested in these types of dogs are just so inundated," said Broome.
Meanwhile, a third suspect has been charged in connection with the seizure.
Kenyatta Kenyon Towers, 34, of 609 Hardy Ave. in Rome, was arrested Monday and charged with 26 misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals and one count of dog fighting, a felony. He also is being held on a probation violation.
A criminal warrant for Towers' arrest states that on May 28 investigators working for the Humane Society of the U.S., acting on a tip, began conducting surveillance at an Eden Circle address in Lindale.
The investigators observed "13 pit bulls chained with heavy logging chains attached to car axles" driven into the ground.
The dogs "were tied away from each other, consistent with how fighting dogs are secured," according to the warrant. The enclosure was in unsanitary condition, little if any water and no food was observed, and the dogs appeared to have scars and wounds consistent with dog fighting, according to the warrant.
Dominique Ladell Porter, 26, of 514 Harper Ave., and Marcus Fredriek Beasley, 21, of 223 Pennington Ave., were charged with 15 counts of misdemeanor cruelty to animals after the seizure, according to jail records. | Source: Dalton Daily Citizen – Jun 17, 2009
Update posted on Jun 17, 2009 - 11:14PM |
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