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CONVICTED: Was justice served?
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Case #4159 Rating: 2.9 out of 5
Dogs trained for dog-fighting
Freeport, NY (US)Incident Date: Monday, Mar 21, 2005
County: Nassau
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Kwame Winston
Case Updates: 4 update(s) available
On March 21, detectives arrested dog trainer and salesman Kwame Winston, 29, of Miller Ave. in Freeport, on six misdemeanors for training fighting animals and selling them out of his Freeport home. Detectives worked together with I-SPEAK Humane Society to uncover the defendant's illegal operation.
Winston owns and operates the Old English Bulldogs Kennel, which he runs out of his Freeport home. The business has a comprehensive website that describes his dogs as "powerful and athletic," claiming they "should display power and fearlessness in every move and should be ready to defend their owner." The website also contains a definition of the word bulldog as well as links to other sites about bulldogs.
Police say they were alerted that something was wrong at the kennel when agents at I-SPEAK found Winston's website. They then made arrangements to go to his home and "buy a dog that was purported to be a fighting dog," says Det. Sgt. Roy Gorddard of the Nassau County First Precinct.
The agent arrested Winston after finding between 12 and 15 fighting dogs living in his garage and basement in unsanitary and cruel conditions. He is also being charged for criminal possession of a weapon after detectives also found an illegally purchased knife.
Several of the dogs had scars on their faces, and most lived in inadequate cages, says Gorddard.
The Town of Hempstead Animal Shelter responded by confiscating six dogs and placing them in their shelter.
Winston is charged with multiple felony violations of the Markets and Agricultural Law for Prohibition of animal fighting, including insufficient care of animals. He will be arraigned March 22 in the First District Court in Hempstead.
Case UpdatesKwame Winston, 30, was sentenced to one year in jail yesterday and ordered to have no contact with dogs for a year.
Winston was nabbed in March when an animal activist went undercover and witnessed Winston's fighting dogs after seeing a Web site in which Winston advertised the specialty dogs for sale.
Winston, whose rap sheet dates to 1993 and includes many drug and weapons possession arrests, apologized at his sentencing in Nassau County Court in Mineola.
"I'm sorry," he told Judge Jeffrey Brown. "I was really trying to do good. I was trying to walk the straight and narrow."
Winston, who authorities said received a certificate from Molloy College in animal care and enrolled in other veterinary courses at the school, worked for a Plainview veterinary hospital.
But when police raided his Miller Ave. home in March, they found five pit bulls in four small cages in his garage, and two bullmastiff puppies in his basement.
Cops said the dogs were specially raised to fight pigs in a sport called Hog Catching (Hog-Dogging).
The raid took place after the animal activist contacted authorities and agreed to be wired with a microphone during a visit to Winston's house on the pretense of buying one of the fighting dogs. Winston charged $2,500 per dog.
In addition to the dogs, investigators said they also found vaccines and padded training sleeves used by handlers.
Staff at a shelter where the dogs were taken reported that the pit bulls appeared malnourished and had markings indicating they had been used in fights.
Winston was initially charged with a felony for training animals for fighting, a crime punishable by up to four years in prison. He was also charged with a misdemeanor weapons charge because police found an illegal 10-inch gravity knife in his home.
He pleaded guilty to the weapons charge and a misdemeanor charge of possession of animals for fighting.
"We held him to the top provable count," Nassau District Attorney spokeswoman Katie Grilli-Robles said, when asked about the reduced charge.
In court, Judge Brown raised an issue with Winston over his criminal past, saying, "Your record - it's quite extensive."
Winston replied, "That's when I was young and stupid." But the judge cited his 2003 bust for weapons possession.
Before sentencing him, Brown gave Winston some advice: "I think you should go back and retake some of your [veterinary] courses and do some good for yourself." | Source: NY Daily News - Aug 25, 2005
Update posted on Sep 2, 2005 - 9:07PM |
| The defendant refused to come over from the jail. His sentence was adjourned to August 24. | | Update posted on Jul 29, 2005 - 9:08AM |
Kwame Winston pled guilty to animal cruelty last week, in lieu of facing 6 counts of animal fighting, a felony. The court reportedly plans one year in jail (no fine) when he is sentenced on July 28, 2005.
According to reports, four of his dogs seized had to euthanized due to injuries. A mastiff puppy found with pneumonia has been adopted, in addition to a white boxer mix with an injured leg. All of the dogs had allegedly been kept by themselves, or in twos, in small sky kennel boxes in an unheated garage. Winston was allegedly selling dogs trained to fight hogs in a pit.
It is believed that his operation, based in Freeport, were part of a larger organization running illegal dog fighting operations in the United States and selling attack dogs too gang members.
Please ask that Winston be sentenced for the maximum penalties allowed, including a fine, and also be banned from owning, or control of any dog. (NY State Agriculture and Markets Law Sect. 374, 5. C):
District Attorney Denis Dillon
262 Old Country Road
Mineola, N.Y. 11501
Fax (516) 571-5065
[email protected] | | Update posted on Jul 7, 2005 - 10:25AM |
| Winston was arraigned March 22, 2005 on felony charges that he illegally bred and trained dogs for sale as fighting dogs.He was being held on $250,000 bail following his hearing in 1st District Court in Hempstead. | Source: New York Daily News - March 23, 2005
Update posted on Mar 25, 2005 - 4:05AM |
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