Attorneys/Judges
| Judge(s): | David M. Lawson |
Dog-fighting - 17 dogs seized
Lincoln Township, MI (US)Incident Date: Wednesday, Jun 17, 2009
County: Huron
Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Convicted
Defendants/Suspects:
» Joshua Gates
» B. Jay Rodriguez
» Martin Phillips
Case Updates: 6 update(s) available
Huron County authorities say 17 pit bulls have been confiscated as part of an investigation into a statewide dogfighting ring.
According to reports, the county sheriff's department and state agriculture officials have executed a search warrant Wednesday in Lincoln Township, about 105 miles north of Detroit.
Sheriff Kelly Hanson tells the radio station they were looking for dogs, dog fighting and training equipment, and dog fighting literature.
The search warrant is one of three being served across the state as part of the investigation into the ring. Hanson says his department has been working with agriculture officials for several weeks.
Case UpdatesMadison Township man arrested in a federal dogfighting investigation was given a 10-day Lenawee County Jail term for local charges stemming from a June 17 raid at his home.
B Jay Rodriguez was sentenced Monday in Lenawee County District Court where he pleaded guilty Aug. 12 to misdemeanor counts of unlicensed dog, unvaccinated dog and marijuana possession. Rodriguez is to be sentenced Dec. 8 in U.S. District Court in Detroit for two federal dogfighting charges he pleaded guilty to on Sept. 2.
Rodriguez was ordered to pay $5,805 restitution in the Lenawee County case, along with a $250 fine and $777 court costs. He is prohibited from owning any animals during his two-year probation period.
Rodriguez was arrested in June along with Joshua Gates of Ogden Township and Martin Phillips of Bad Axe. The three were accused of engaging in dogfighting matches and breeding, selling and training fighting dogs in a business they called Pitformance Kennels. Forty-nine pit bull dogs were seized from the three men’s homes.
The three were facing a Sept. 1 trial in federal court before Gates took a plea bargain on Aug. 25. The agreement included his acknowledgment that all three started and developed Pitformance Kennels since 2005 and bred, bought, sold and trained fighting dogs at each of their homes. He specifically admitted selling a dog on March 9 that was trained and conditioned for fighting, that he took a dog to a fighting match on May 24 and that he, Rodriguez and Phillips talked on May 27 about holding a match at Phillips home near Bad Axe.
On Sept. 2, Rodriguez pleaded guilty in federal court to selling a dog on April 24 for participation in an animal fighting venture and to exhibiting a dog in a fighting venture on May 24.
Phillips also pleaded guilty Sept. 2 to the same two counts and is scheduled for sentencing on Dec. 8 in federal court in Detroit. | Source: the Daily Telegram - Sep 23, 2009
Update posted on Sep 29, 2009 - 11:29AM |
The Lincoln Township man busted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in mid-June for his role in a dogfighting ring appeared Wednesday in U.S. District Court where he pled guilty to two felony counts of transporting animals for fighting ventures.
In a plea agreement reached by prosecutors, Martin Phillips, 34, pleaded guilty Wednesday to two felony counts. In return for Phillips guilty plea, one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States government will be dismissed at the time of sentencing before Judge David M. Lawson at 3:30 p.m. Dec. 18 in U.S. District Court in Detroit.
Phillips was reportedly part of a trio indicted June 29, following simultaneous raids on June 17 in Huron and Lenawee counties by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office of Inspector General.
Seized in the raid were a total of 50 pit bulls plus dogfighting and training equipment, medical supplies, computers and a dogfighting magazine.
The Huron County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the Lincoln Township raid at Phillips’ property located on Church Road near Carpenter Road. Investigators there seized 17 pit bull dogs, varying in age, from the Phillips' property. Court documents indicate that in late April Phillips had more than 30 pit bull dogs there.
Authorities charged Phillips, along with B. Jay Rodriguez, 28, of Adrian, and Joshua Gates, 25, of Blissfield, following the raid.
Rodriguez entered into the same plea deal as Phillips, and he also will be sentenced in December.
Gates pleaded guilty to conspiracy to promote an animal fighting venture; buying, selling or delivering an animal for a fighting venture; and sponsoring or exhibiting an animal in a fighting venture. He will be sentenced in early December.
Investigators have said the trio, started the dog fighting activity around 2005. The three operated Pitformance Kennels, a business that bred, bought, sold and trained fighting dogs at all the men’s homes.
They also fought the dogs at other locations, according to court documents.
The defendants posted match results and ads in “Sporting Dog Journal,” a dog fighting magazine distributed in Washington, D.C., North Carolina and other locations, federal investigators said.
Pitformance Kennels also operated a web site to advertise and sell fighting dogs. | Source: Huron Daily Tribune - Sept 4,, 2009
Update posted on Sep 4, 2009 - 8:58PM |
A Huron County man and two cohorts have until Monday, Aug. 17, to take a plea deal or face a jury in a federal dog fighting case.
Martin S. Phillips II, 34, of Lincoln Township was indicted Jun 29 on one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States government and two counts of transporting animals for fighting ventures.
Investigators with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office of Inspector General claim Phillips, B. Jay Rodriguez, 28, of Adrian, and Joshua Gates, 25, of Blissfield, operated a dog-fighting venture in rural eastern Michigan.
In the absence of plea agreements, the trial could begin as early as Tuesday, Sept. 1.
The trio face five years behind bars if convicted.
Federal agents seized 50 pit bulls plus dog fighting and training equipment, medical supplies, computers and a dog fighting magazine in three simultaneous raids June 17 in Huron and Lenawee counties.
Investigators took 17 dogs from Phillips' home on Church near Carpenter outside Bad Axe.
The Humane Society of the United States assisted with
rounding up the animals.
Humane Society officials have released no information about the conditions of the dogs, where they are being kept or what is likely to become of them. | Source: Mlive.com - Jul 11, 2009
Update posted on Jul 12, 2009 - 12:32AM |
A southeastern Michigan man charged with dogfighting crimes didn't appear in court and is considered a fugitive.
The U.S. attorney's office says B. Jay Rodriguez of Adrian was supposed to make his first appearance Tuesday in federal court in Detroit, but he was a no-show.
Rodriguez and two other men are the first in Michigan to be charged under federal anti-dogfighting laws. Prosecutors say they conspired to promote fights and raise and sell pit bulls starting in 2005.
Forty-nine dogs were seized in Lenawee and Huron counties in mid-June.
Martin Phillips of Bad Axe was released on bond Tuesday, while Joshua Gates of Blissfield remains in custody. | Source: WLNS - July 5, 2009
Update posted on Jul 5, 2009 - 6:06PM |
Federal authorities indicted three Michigan men today for sponsoring dog fighting ventures in which pit bulls were sold, bred, trained and promoted for fighting.
"This case represents a step toward dismantling this underground network for animal cruelty," U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg said today.
On June 17, federal agents seized 49 dogs in separate raids in Lenawee and Huron counties along with training equipment, veterinary supplies and underground dog fighting publications.
Indicted today on felony charges are Jay Rodriguez, 28, of Adrian, Martin Phillips, 34, of Bad Axe and Joshua Gates, 25, of Blissfield.. They are charged with conspiracy to sponsor and promote an animal fighting venture; buying, selling, delivering or transporting animals for participation in an animal fighting venture, and promoting an animal in a fighting venture.
The indictment, which is the first of its kind in this federal district, charges the men ran a dog fighting operation known as "Pitformance Kennels."
Gates appeared in U.S. District Court in Detroit today and was detained pending a hearing tomorrow. Phillips and Rodriguez were scheduled to appear in court tomorrow.
Local authorities in Lenawee and Huron counties assisted in the investigation along with the United States Humane Society and East Lansing Office of the United States Department of Agriculture.
"Their dedication and skill led to the identification and apprehension of three dangerous individuals," Berg said. | Source: Detroit Free Press - June 29, 2009
Update posted on Jun 29, 2009 - 7:30PM |
Federal officials had made no arrests as of late Thursday in a series of raids on suspected dog fighting operations in rural eastern Michigan.
The searches stunned neighbors in Huron County's Lincoln Township where authorities confiscated 17 pit bulls plus dog fighting and training equipment, medical supplies allegedly used to treat wounded animals, computers and a dog fighting publication that apparently was produced at the site on Church near Carpenter.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office of Inspector General is heading up the probe but a spokesman for the agency would not comment.
"We can not even confirm whether (the agency) is involved," said Paul Feeney, public information officer.
Neighbors say they don't need official confirmation of that which unfolded before their eyes.
"They were all over the place," said Erich A. Wessels. "Everyone out here is yacking about it. It's not a nice thing if it's true. People are pretty shocked, especially the up-close neighbors."
The people who own the property where the raid occurred kept to themselves, neighbors said.
"I never met him," Wessels said. "They built a fence and I always wondered what was going on but ... who knew? We never heard a noise."
Wessels said he passed several Huron County sheriff's patrol cars as he headed home from work Wednesday afternoon.
"Several vans went by heading away from the place," he said. "They must have had the dogs. There were three or four big white vans."
Authorities have not commented on the dogs' conditions or where they are being housed.
Agents seized about 50 dogs in three raids, said Martin Montorfano, spokesman for the Humane Society of the United States, which assisted in the investigation.
"The (Humane Society), according to its policy, will recommend that dogs seized in these raids be evaluated for adoption suitability," Montorfano said.
Workers with the Michigan and Missouri branches of the Humane Society helped remove the animals.
Neither Montorfano nor Huron County Sheriff Kelly J. Hanson knew where the other searches took place.
The Humane Society offers up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in dog fighting. A grant from the Holland M. Ware Charitable Foundation in Atlanta funds the reward program.
Humane Society statistics show that more than 250,000 dogs are wounded or die in dog fighting pits every year.
Nearly 40,000 people follow organized dog fighting circuits across the United States, while about 100,000 more meet on neighborhood streets, alleys and hideaways, Montorfano said. | Source: Mlive.com - Jun 18, 2009
Update posted on Jun 24, 2009 - 1:16PM |
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