Animal control seizes pit bulls, makes 2 arrests in alleged dog fighting operation
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Animal control seizes pitbulls in Lindale used in a suspected dogfighting operation
Pit bulls seized in Lindale
Floyd County Animal Control, Floyd County Police and Norred & Associates cooperated in the raid.
Norred, an Atlanta-based security and investigation firm, had been monitoring the operation for some time and decided it had enough information to take action.
“We got a tip some time ago about this operation, and we took the tip to the Floyd County Animal Control and the Floyd County police,” Charles Simmons of Norred said.
The raid resulted in the rescue of 12 adult male pit bulls, three females and six puppies at an Eden Circle home, according to Animal Control.
Dominique Ladell Porter, 26, of 514 Harper Ave., and Marcus Fredriek Beasley, 21, of 223 Pennington Ave., have been charged with 15 counts of misdemeanor cruelty to animals, according to Floyd County Jail records. They were released on $20,250 bail.
Porter, a pressman at the Rome News-Tribune, was previously arrested in January and charged with six counts of felony dog fighting and six misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals.
Simmons, who was also involved in that investigation, said the dogs recovered Thursday were in deplorable conditions.
“These dogs have been essentially living in their own filth,” he said.
Officers found the living condition of the dogs to be unsanitary. In the area where the puppies were kept, the odor of rotting feces permeated the air.
The adult dogs, kept in a separate pen, were kept on 4-foot chains that weighed more than the dogs. Simmons lamented some of these dogs will “spend their whole life on those chains.”
He said that the dogs were “given food and water from time to time,” but he said “there is no food or water present today.”
Some dogs were severely injured, showing signs of recent fighting. Most were taken by animal control for examination; some were taken to local veterinary practices for immediate attention.
Lt. Dana Collum of the Floyd County Police Department said dog fighting may be on the rise in Rome because there have been many raids in Northeast Georgia recently, causing the dogfighters to drift to less active dog fighting towns like Rome.
Jason Broome, director of Floyd County Animal Control, said all the dogs will be “evaluated by a veterinarian on Saturday where the scarring and injuries will be documented as evidence.” Following the evaluations, Animal Control will work to get the dogs adopted.
Many of the dogs “have adoption potential,” and would be eligible for adoption by rescue groups, Broome said.
It was less than a year later and she had already obtained new dogs. I contacted the sheriff again, this time they advised me that the judge did not bar her from owning dogs. They told me that if she was caught abusing dogs again, she might be barred at this time.
I worked some contacts from back in my law enforcement days, and talked to the DA for this area. He said there was little he could do, but told me if I caught anything to let him know. I keep an eye out, but she is too careful to let anyone see what she is doing.
Hopefully they arrest her for running drugs(which is does), and they lock her up for the rest of her sad life. It is horrible that Georgia act tough on animal abusers, but they let them own animals after committing these acts. Would the state allow people to have children after killing a few of their own?
My pets are like my children and reading things like this just burns me up. They look to us for love and safety just like a child and how people are so cold hearted like this is beyond me. Hopefully they won't be so traumatized that they can all be able to be adopted into loving homes.