Pit-bulls seized, drug arrest made
Lawrence, KS (US)Date: Oct 8, 2004
Disposition: Not Charged
Person of Interest: Ernest Martin
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A Lawrence resident with a criminal history of animal abuse is in jail on crack-cocaine charges, and his nine pit bull terriers, apparently being trained for dog fights, are being cared for by the Lawrence Humane Society.
Police investigators armed with a search warrant Friday found the dogs at a central Lawrence home. In addition, police found drug paraphernalia, three guns, dog-training treadmills and dog-growth supplements during their search of the house at 2133 Naismith Drive.
"We did know pit bulls would be there," said police spokesman Sgt. Dan Ward. "We didn't know it would be to this extent."
Police later found the target of the search warrant, Ernest Martin, 28, at the Ramada Inn, 2222 W. Sixth St. Police said Martin had 77 grams of crack cocaine, with a street value of approximately $8,000, in his possession at the time of his arrest.
He was booked into Douglas County Jail on charges of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine. No animal cruelty charges have been filed.
Jeaneen Hercha, operations manager at the Humane Society, said rehabilitating the dogs would be difficult. "Unfortunately, it is a very laborious process," she said. "For now, we'll do our best to take care of them, but down the line, we'll have to look at their temperament."
Hercha said a close-knit circle of pit bulls owners in the area made it possible for people like Martin to obtain so many of the dogs.
"The people who fight them and breed them, they all know each other," Hercha said. Hercha added the supplements found at the home were not difficult to obtain -- any person could purchase them at a high-end pet store or via the Internet.
"The things that bodybuilders use to build up before a show, they make those same things for dogs," she said.
Martin has run afoul of the law previously. In 1996, police found two of Martin's 18-week-old pit bull puppies kept in a pickup truck in freezing weather without water. He received diversion for a cruelty to animals charge stemming from the incident.
In 1998, he received a year of jail time for raising fighting dogs in an abandoned house at 1820 Vt. Neighbors called the police to complain about suspicious activity at the home; police found 11 dogs, including one dead dog with bite marks and scars all over its body. Martin was charged with 16 counts of animal cruelty.
Martin's neighbors said they had noticed several dogs in the back yard of his residence on Naismith Drive. In recent months, the odor of the dogs' excrement had become so strong that neighbors complained to the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department.
Patsy Anderson, who lives next door to the house, said she called the property's landlord twice because of the dogs.
"I told him that they had pit bulls, and I didn't like the way they were being treated," she said. "I did noticed a lot of traffic going in and out of the house, but I didn't say much, because you never know what is going to get back to you."
Anderson said she was afraid to let her three grandchildren play in her back yard, which abuts Martin's, because of a broken fence that she didn't think could hold the dogs.
Jeff Tschudy, property manager, said he last visited the home to discuss cleaning the excrement out of the back yard but had not noticed anything that would have led him to believe that the tenants were running a dog-fighting ring or dealing drugs.
Tschudy said he had been unaware that Martin was living in the residence. There was only one name on the lease, Tschudy said, and it was not Martin's. Neighbors said Martin lived at the home with a woman.
Tschudy said he would be evicting the current tenant. References« Back to Search Results
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