Tennessee: 4th arrested after alleged dog fighting operation busted in north Nashville

TENNESSEE -- A fourth person was arrested after an alleged dog fighting ring was busted on March 9 at a home in north Nashville.

Metro police reported Joshua Dyer, 36, was taken into custody late Thursday night.

 

Three other suspects have already been arrested in the case; John Gooch, James Burgess and Shawn Massey.

 

The discovery of the alleged dog fighting operation came as officers executed a heroin-related search warrant at the home in the 600 block of Rowan Drive.

Twenty-one pit bulls were seized, 10 of them puppies.

 

 

According to Dyer’s arrest warrants, they had scarring and injuries to their faces and bodies.

Police said the dogs were found either chained or in cages behind the home, along with a treadmill believed to have been used to train the dogs and syringes allegedly used to administer chemicals to them.

 

 

 

The dogs are now in the care of Metro Animal Care and Control in hopes they can eventually be adopted out.

Dyer was booked into the Metro jail and faces nine counts of animal fighting and five counts of aggravated animal cruelty. His bond is set at $490,000 and he is due in court March 28.

 

(WKRN - March 25, 2016)

Georgia Sheriff's Employee Sheryl Denise Smith charged with dog fighting

GEORGIA -- Bibb Sheriff's Corrections Deputy Sheryl Denise Smith was arrested on dog fighting charges Monday morning and fired from the Sheriff's Office later that afternoon.

According to a news release from the Bibb Sheriff's Office, deputies responded to a complaint about injured dogs at Smith's home. They then found evidence the animals had been involved in dog fighting.

Treadmills and a rape stand are among the items found in the home of a former Bibb County employee accused of dog fighting, according to an arrest warrant.

Former Bibb Sheriff's Corrections Deputy Sheryl Smith's arrest warrant states that authorities found a rape stand, used for forced breeding of dogs, medicines and directions for administering those drugs along with supplies used to clean eight dogs before fighting at a house on Dalton Street.

According to Smith's arrest warrant, all of these items were kept in plain view just outside the back door in a fenced area.

Eight dogs were found at the house. Investigators believe they were kept there for the purposes of training and fighting. A news release says the animals were treated for their injuries.

 

 

Two men were also arrested: Felix Hughes Jr., 28, and Bruce Davis, 33, both of Macon. They are charged with dog fighting.

An internal investigation was conducted and Smith was found to be in violation of policies under the Bibb County Sheriff's Office. Smith was fired from the Bibb County Sheriff's Office Monday afternoon. She was released from the Bibb County Law Enforcement Center after posting a $5,700 bond.

(11Alive.com - July 21, 2015)

Barry Lemore Kee arrested: Phoenix man accused of training dogs for dog-fights

ARIZONA -- A Phoenix man is accused of training dogs to participate in dog-fighting.

Barry Lemore Kee, 37, was arrested on May 12 and booked into jail on 13 counts of animal fighting.

Detectives began investigating after a tenant who rented a room at Kee's rental home recorded conversations of Kee talking about the alleged dog-fighting.

Officers executed a search warrant at the home near 24th and San Miguel avenues and found various items "consistent with the elements of animal fighting," according to court documents.

Those items included a dog treadmill, injectable material, syringes and paper documents, police said.

They also seized 13 dogs identified as Pit Bulls.

(ABC15 - May 14, 2015)

Man arrested for breeding, training fighting dogs used stolen identity

SOUTH CAROLINA -- The Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office say they believe a man arrested for raising and training dogs for fighting may be using another person's identity, deputies say.

Deputies say at the time of the arrest, the individual produced an ID belonging to a man named Robert Wright.

However, according to Kershaw County Sheriff Jim Matthews, the suspect's is actually 42-year-old Burton Lushawn Mincey. He is also wanted for burglary in Lancaster, and in Georgia on a drug-related probation warrant.

If investigators determine that Wright's identity has been stolen, additional charges will be filed against the man arrested once his true identity has been established.

Matthews says narcotics officers arrested Mincey on Jan. 8 and charged him with 20 counts of ill treatment of animals, 20 counts of owning an animal for the purpose of fighting, possession of a stolen vehicle, narcotics violations and possession of a pistol by a person prohibited.

The report said officers obtained a search warrant for Mincey's home.

Officers requested assistance from the Kershaw County Animal Control, SC Probation Parole and Pardon and the SPCA.

During the course of the search, officers found 12 adult pit bull mix dogs and 8 puppies.

"They were living in deplorable conditions, many of them were malnourished,” said Matthews. “The adult dogs had signs of having been in dogfights. One of them had its upper lip ripped off."

According to the report, deputies seized heavy logging chains tied to the animals, shock collars, bite sticks, which are used to discipline and antagonize the dogs, medical and steroid injection items, and treadmills inside a dark, enclosed trailer where the dogs were sometimes housed.

Deputies also located a stolen motorcycle, a pistol and paraphernalia used to manufacture and distribute crack cocaine, the report stated.

Mincey is currently being detained at the Kershaw County Detention Center and is awaiting a bond hearing.

The dogs were taken by Kershaw County Animal Control and are being cared for at the Walter Crowe Animal Shelter in Camden.

"We haven't even had them 24 hours yet, so we haven't been able to assess them,” said shelter worker Sharon Jones. “We hope to be able to, but we just don't know."

(WIS - Jan 9, 2013)