Dog-fighting - over 140 dogs seized Church Point, Franklinton, LA (US) Date: May 25, 2005 Disposition: Alleged Alleged: Pedro Mendez Ramos Michael J. Jackson Andrew Aubrey Lance K. Olivier Keith Warren Darren P. Williams

Case ID: 4654 Classification: Fighting Animal: dog (pit-bull) View more cases in LA (US) Login to Watch this Case

Dogfighting, money laundering and drugs are all tangled together on the Gulf Coast, state police say, with two intertwined sets of arrests and the confiscation of more than 140 pit bulls as evidence.

Pedro Mendez Ramos, 36, of Church Point, allegedly is the ringleader for it all. He was among 15 people arrested May 25 in Texas, Louisiana and Florida after a three-year investigation of Gulf Coast drug trafficking.

On May 26, Louisiana State Police said he also was leader of a dogfighting organization with kennels in Church Point and Franklinton. Three of the others arrested on May 25 on drug and money laundering charges - and two of three additional people arrested on May 26 in Franklinton - were accused with him in the dogfighting organization.

Forty-three pit bulls were confiscated from Church Point in arrests there Wednesday, but the dogfighting charges didn't come out until May 26, when troopers descended on the Franklinton kennel owned by Darren P. Williams.

They found more than 100 pit bulls - they hadn't finished counting on May 26, and the Louisiana SPCA had to call in the St. Tammany Parish Animal Control and Baton Rouge city Animal Control center for help housing them - and arrested Williams and two others, said Trooper Johnnie Brown, a state police spokesman.

He said more arrests are expected.

The drug investigation started in February 2002, and wound up with federal indictments against seven people arrested Wednesday in Louisiana, seven - including Ramos - arrested in Texas, and one in Florida, state police said.

In November 2004, troopers in the Casino Gaming division in Lafayette began investigating a dogfighting organization based in Church Point. Their counterparts in Baton Rouge learned in March about one in Franklinton. The two groups of investigators noticed similarities, and realized the two dogfighting groups were related.

Ramos faces federal charges of conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine and marijuana; conspiracy to launder money; continuing criminal enterprise; money laundering; and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute it. In Louisiana, he also faces dogfighting charges, Brown said.

Also accused in both the dogfighting and drug rings are Michael J. Jackson, 29, of Lafayette; Andrew Aubrey, 32, of St. Martinville; and Lance K. Olivier, 27, of Church Point.

In addition to the state dogfighting charges, Olivier faces federal charges of money laundering, conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine and marijuana and conspiracy to launder money. Aubrey and Jackson both are charged in federal court with conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine.

Williams was booked with dogfighting, animal cruelty and possessing marijuana.

Keith Warren, 32, of Franklinton, was booked with dogfighting, cruelty to animals, money laundering, and possessing marijuana and crack cocaine; and Doris Hardey, 46, of Franklinton, with possessing marijuana and crack cocaine.

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References

	2theAdvocate
	KLFY - May 26, 2005
	KLFY - May 26, 2005
	The Daily World - May 27, 2005
	2theAdvocate

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