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Case #7625 Rating: 3.3 out of 5
Dog-fight training
University Park, IL (US)Incident Date: Thursday, Mar 9, 2006
County: Will
Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Convicted
Defendants/Suspects:
» Donald Hudgins
» Katherine Hudgins
» Ramo J Curtis - Alleged
Case Updates: 4 update(s) available
Authorities say 12 pit bulls, marijuana, cocaine and an alligator-like reptile were found during a search of a Will County home that may have been a dog fighting training center.
The Will County sheriff's office says two people who lived at the University Park area home and a Chicago man were charged with possession of marijuana with intent to deliver after the March 9 afternoon raid.
Authorities conducted the search after they received a tip during a traffic stop that drugs were being sold at the home.
Police confiscated more than a kilogram of marijuana, about 35 marijuana plants, more than 100 grams of cocaine, cash, drug equipment, a five-pound caiman and a chicken.
Although police suspect the dogs were being trained to fight, there was no evidence of organized dog fighting at the home. None of the pit bulls appeared to be injured.
Case UpdatesWill County Associate Judge Robert Livas sent a clear message from his bench Nov. 6 that those who are caught abusing animals should pay a stiff price.
Livas's words and actions were primarily directed at a couple from an unincorporated part of the county near University Park who ran a dog-fighting operation. But the judge no doubt hoped his comments resonated throughout the rest of the county and beyond.
Donald Hudgins, 41, and his wife Katherine Hudgins, 40, will spend time behind bars "to know what it feels like to be in a cage, suffering like (your dogs) were." Donald was sentenced to two years in prison, as part of a plea deal with prosecutors in which the couple admitted to keeping 12 fighting dogs at their home and possessing 35 marijuana plants.
Katherine Hudgins's part of the plea deal called for her to be sentenced to two years' probation, but Livas wanted nothing to do with that. Instead, he ordered her to spend six months in the county jail. She'll also have to pay court costs and serve 100 hours of community service.
And in Livas's opinion, Katherine Hudgins got off easy. "Madam, in all truth, you are lucky I'm not sending you to the Department of Corrections (state prison)," he said. "I want you to know that feeling of helplessness those dogs had." | Source: Suburban Chicago News - Nov 19, 2007
Update posted on Nov 27, 2007 - 2:19AM |
A husband and wife who confessed to running a suburban dog-fighting ring have been tossed in jail after a dog-loving judge said he needed more time to consider their plea deals.
During a brief hearing at the Will County Courthouse on November 5th, Donald and Katherine Hudgins pleaded guilty to felony dogfighting, possession of cocaine and to growing 35 cannabis plants at their home in an unincorporated area just south of University Park.
Police found dog-fighting equipment including specially adapted treadmills, a dozen pit bulls and a five-pound alligator at the couple's home last March.
Under the terms of their plea deals with prosecutors, Donald Hudgins would have been sentenced to two years behind bars while his wife got only probation.
But after warning the couple that he was not bound by their agreements with Will County prosecutors, Circuit Judge Robert Livas ordered both Hudginses handcuffed and thrown in jail.
"I need more time to consider this," he told the Hudginses, who had been free on bond until Monday's hearing.
Livas has a flair for dramatic sentencing decisions.
Last month, he threw a Frankfort stock trader and his wife in jail for a month without bail after the trader tested positive for cocaine on the day of their sentencing hearing.
And while tearing up a dog-abuser's plea deal last April, Livas gave a lengthy and impassioned speech on the nature of the bond between man and dog, describing how "(The dog) greets us in the morning - he's happy to see us - he's disappointed when we leave; when the rest of the world rejects us as failures, the one constant in life is that dog."
Speaking Monday, Livas said he needed more information about why the five pit bull puppies and seven adult pit bulls seized from the Hudgins home were put down by Will County Animal Control.
"Was it because there wasn't room to keep them, or were they badly hurt, or was it because they could not be rehabilitated?," he said.
"It's important to me."
Although pit bulls seized in similar raids this year in Burbank, Ford Heights and South Holland have been spared euthanasia, and some have been offered to the public for adoption after retraining, Will County officials found that the dogs in the Hudgins case were not suitable to be adopted, Will County state's attorney spokesman Chuck Pelkie has said.
The Hudginses are due to appear again before Livas on Nov. 13. | Source: DailySouthtown.com - Nov 6, 2007
Update posted on Nov 6, 2007 - 12:10PM |
An alleged Will County dog fighting kingpin has agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors who will see him locked up for two years, his attorney said Tuesday.
Police in November confiscated a dozen pit bulls, 35 marijuana plants, more than 100 grams of cocaine, drug equipment and a chicken from 39-year-old Donald Hudgins' home in an unincorporated area just south of University Park.
Police also found a 5-pound alligator and specially adapted treadmills for training fighting dogs at his home in the 28500 block of South Kedzie Avenue.
Hudgins, who has a 1998 felony conviction for unlawful use of a weapon and was cited in 2002 for having 40 dogs at his home, initially denied felony drug and dog-fighting charges, claiming to be a respectable dog trainer and a member of an Alsip-based show-dog club called "Chicago Finest American Pit Bull Terrier Club."
His case attracted outrage in May when a dozen puppies seized from his home were euthanized by Will County Animal Control after attorneys argued that allowing them to live would weaken Hudgins' prosecution.
But as Hudgins' trial was set to begin Tuesday morning, Will County Assistant State's Attorney Fred Harvey told Judge Robert Livas that Hudgins and his wife, Katherine, had reached plea agreements.
The Hudginses' attorney, Mike Clancy, said Donald Hudgins would plead guilty to both the drug and dog-fighting charges.
Katherine Hudgins would plead guilty to a lesser drug charge.
Under the agreement, Donald Hudgins would serve two years while his wife would get probation, Clancy said.
Although judges routinely agree to plea deals arranged by prosecutors, the law does not require them to do so.
And the Hudginses may be taking a risk when they formally enter guilty pleas Nov. 5 before Livas, a noted dog-lover who last year tore up an agreement prosecutors reached that would have spared a felony animal abuser prison time.
Sentencing Marc Czernik to 15 months behind bars in April 2006, Livas made an extraordinary and lengthy speech about the special bond between man and dog, saying:
"Human beings have walked the Earth for 250,000 years.
"That's an amazing amount of time - what's even more amazing is in that entire period, only one animal has chosen voluntarily to be our ally and friend.
"Why the dog? ... For the reason they've been given a gift - the same gift given to infants and small children.
"They pull from us unconditional love ... human beings have failed dogs consistently. I've never heard of a dog failing a human being.
"He greets us in the morning - he's happy to see us - he's disappointed when we leave.
"When the rest of the world rejects us as failures, the one constant in that life is that dog."
The Hudginses, who are free on bail, declined to comment Tuesday after the hearing.
They were the targets of the first in a recent string of high-profile south suburban dog-fighting arrests, which also included busts in Burbank, South Holland and Ford Heights. | Source: Daily Southtown - Oct 24, 2007
Update posted on Oct 25, 2007 - 1:37AM |
Police suspect a center for training fighting dogs was operating at a Will County home where 12 pit bulls and a five-pound caiman -- a South American crocodile-like reptile -- were seized during a drug bust, officials said. "You know how boxers have training facilities with treadmills, weights, etc.?" said Pat Barry, a spokesman for the Will County sheriff's office. "This was the same, but for dogs."
Donald Hudgins, 38, and Katherine Hudgins, 39, who lived in the home, and Ramo J. Curtis, 54, of Chicago, were charged with possession of marijuana with intent to deliver in the raid of the home at 28541 S. Kedzie south of University Park.
Police confiscated more than a kilogram of marijuana, about 35 marijuana plants, more than 100 grams of cocaine, $1,613 in cash, drug equipment and a chicken, Barry said. "This is fairly uncommon," said Dr. Leroy Schild, administrator of the Will County Animal Control Department. "Maybe a couple of times a year we encounter suspicions of fighting dogs. There have been suspicions about this place."
Donald Hudgins is a felon who served two years' probation for a 1998 gun conviction in Cook County, officials said. When an officer stopped his car and smelled marijuana, Hudgins admitted he was carrying a gun and was charged with unlawful use of a weapon. In 1987, he was convicted of possession of a controlled substance, records show.
The Will County bust came after police received a tip from a motorist during a traffic stop that drugs were being sold at the Hudgins' home, Barry said. Sheriff's officers and police from New Lenox, Lockport, the Will County Forest Preserve, Romeoville, Matteson and Sauk Village executed a search warrant.
Although police suspect the dogs were being trained to fight, there was no evidence of organized dog fighting at the home, Barry said. None of the dogs appeared to be injured, he said. Authorities said they expect to file additional charges in connection with the dogs. | Source: Chicago Sun Times - March 11, 2006
Update posted on Jun 4, 2006 - 3:50PM |
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