3MTA3
01-20-2010, 02:08 PM
4 arrested in Lothian dogfight
Pit bulls suffer serious injuries during incident in woods
By HEATHER RAWLYK, Staff Writer
Published 01/20/10
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/photos/100120animal.jpg
Behind a large room of barking, adoptable dogs at Animal Control headquarters in Millersville, two pit bulls dubbed "Ali" and "Foreman" by the staff remained quarantined yesterday afternoon.
Ali, a 1-year-old brown and white brindle mix with an emaciated frame and scratched, swollen face, sat quietly on a pink comforter folded on the floor.
Two cages down, Foreman, a 1-year-old brown brindle with less noticeable injuries, paced back and forth in his pen.
"We think he might have been losing," Lt. Glenn Shanahan of Animal Control said while pointing at Ali.
"This one will tear you up," he said, pointing to Foreman.
An anonymous tip led county police to an apparently arranged dogfight between the two animals near a ravine deep in the woods behind a Lothian home Saturday afternoon.
Three men were arrested and charged at the scene. Charges also were filed against a fourth man who was at the fight. Police said that suspect was in a wheelchair and was not immediately arrested due to his disability.
Just before 1 p.m. Cpl. Randall Gann was called to a small white house in the wood-lined 5100 block of Sands Road to investigate an anonymous report of dogfighting behind the residence, according to court documents.
Gann asked a resident of the home if he had seen dogs in the area. The man told him to look in the woods behind the house.
The man pointed to three vehicles parked in a field next to his home and in his driveway. He told police the men who drove them were involved in the fighting. He added that a man had pulled into his driveway in a dark blue Dodge Magnum and then walked toward the woods behind his house.
The resident told the man not to park on his property, but the man kept walking to the woods, court documents said. He said he did not see who pulled up in the other two vehicles: a white U-Haul van and a tan Jeep Grand Cherokee.
The resident told Gann he should call for backup and not go into the woods alone.
Two backup officers were called and joined Gann. After walking about 100 feet into the woods, the officers "could hear dogs barking, yelping and growling," court documents say.
The three officers then saw a small group of men standing at the bottom of a ravine as the two dogs later dubbed Ali and Foreman fought nearby.
Upon seeing the officers, the group scattered in different directions through the woods. Three men stayed at the fight with a fourth man, who was in a wheelchair.
Police separated the two dogs.
"Both dogs sustained serious injuries during the fight, causing both to bleed heavily from their mouths, faces and bodies," Gann wrote in the police report.
The dogs were turned over to Animal Control in Millersville, where they were treated for their injuries. The dogs are being kept as evidence at Animal Control.
The suspects
Donnell Antonio Cooper, 23, of 6846 Walker Mill Road in Capitol Heights, Nathaniel Lockley, 53, of 8612 Monmouth Drive in Upper Marlboro, and Pervis Erashano Sharps Sr., 34, of 1204 Whittington Drive in Lothian, were each charged with animal cruelty, dogfighting, mutilating animals, being a dogfighting spectator and trespassing.
Cooper was booked into the Jennifer Road Detention Center in Parole and released on recognizance yesterday following a bail review hearing at Annapolis District Court, electronic court records show. Lockley is being held at Jennifer Road on $2,600 bond following a bail review hearing yesterday. And Sharps was released from Jennifer Road on Sunday on $100,000 bond.
Police on Sunday filed charges against Kelvin Nathaniel Greathouse Jr., 23, of 12402 Circa Court in Upper Marlboro. Greathouse, who was sitting in a wheelchair at the dogfight, was arrested yesterday. He was charged with six counts of animal cruelty, dogfighting, being a dogfighting spectator, possession-training a dog for a dogfight, and two counts of animal cruelty.
Greathouse is being held at Jennifer Road on $500,000 bond. He is expected to have a bail review hearing today.
During questioning, police said Lockley told officers he had attended the dogfight with Cooper and Greathouse. He said the three arrived at the Lothian home in a U-Haul van leased by Cooper.
Police later found muddy paw prints in the back of the van, court documents say.
Lockley told police Greathouse brought one of the two dogs that were fighting from his father's house in La Plata and that another man, identified only as "Miller," brought the second dog. He said Greathouse and Miller had made a $200 bet on the fight.
When Sharps was arrested, police said he asked officers why they weren't handcuffing Greathouse. He allegedly "muttered" that Greathouse was related to him and was the one who arranged the dogfight.
Lt. James Fredericks, a county police spokesman, said officers have not recently been called to investigate any other dogfighting complaints in the Lothian area and that this is likely an isolated report.
He said the man identified only as Miller likely does not exist.
Several residents of the quaint homes scattered along Sands Road near Wallace Place would not talk to The Capital yesterday afternoon. Those that did talk said they did not know what had happened on Saturday.
'Unadoptable'
At Animal Control headquarters yesterday, Shanahan hesitantly placed his fingers into Ali's cage and let the dog lick his hand.
"He is sweet," he said. "He's not so bad."
Ali's head remained swollen. Scratches covered the dog's swollen face and his left ear was mangled. Foremen walked from one side of his cage to another and back again.
Shanahan said dogs rescued from fights are usually "unadoptable."
"You cannot adopt these dogs out," he said. "We don't know their backgrounds. It's too much of a liability."
He said Animal Control would sometimes send such dogs out of state for rehabilitation. But Ali and Foreman will likely be put down.
The dogs were both emaciated, their hipbones and ribs poking through their brindled fur.
Shanahan said Animal Control staff members are treating the dogs for their injuries and trying to put weight on their frames.
"No one is going to claim these dogs," Shanahan said. "They're abandoned."
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/top/2010/01/20-13/4-arrested-in-Lothian-dogfight.html?ne=1
Pit bulls suffer serious injuries during incident in woods
By HEATHER RAWLYK, Staff Writer
Published 01/20/10
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/photos/100120animal.jpg
Behind a large room of barking, adoptable dogs at Animal Control headquarters in Millersville, two pit bulls dubbed "Ali" and "Foreman" by the staff remained quarantined yesterday afternoon.
Ali, a 1-year-old brown and white brindle mix with an emaciated frame and scratched, swollen face, sat quietly on a pink comforter folded on the floor.
Two cages down, Foreman, a 1-year-old brown brindle with less noticeable injuries, paced back and forth in his pen.
"We think he might have been losing," Lt. Glenn Shanahan of Animal Control said while pointing at Ali.
"This one will tear you up," he said, pointing to Foreman.
An anonymous tip led county police to an apparently arranged dogfight between the two animals near a ravine deep in the woods behind a Lothian home Saturday afternoon.
Three men were arrested and charged at the scene. Charges also were filed against a fourth man who was at the fight. Police said that suspect was in a wheelchair and was not immediately arrested due to his disability.
Just before 1 p.m. Cpl. Randall Gann was called to a small white house in the wood-lined 5100 block of Sands Road to investigate an anonymous report of dogfighting behind the residence, according to court documents.
Gann asked a resident of the home if he had seen dogs in the area. The man told him to look in the woods behind the house.
The man pointed to three vehicles parked in a field next to his home and in his driveway. He told police the men who drove them were involved in the fighting. He added that a man had pulled into his driveway in a dark blue Dodge Magnum and then walked toward the woods behind his house.
The resident told the man not to park on his property, but the man kept walking to the woods, court documents said. He said he did not see who pulled up in the other two vehicles: a white U-Haul van and a tan Jeep Grand Cherokee.
The resident told Gann he should call for backup and not go into the woods alone.
Two backup officers were called and joined Gann. After walking about 100 feet into the woods, the officers "could hear dogs barking, yelping and growling," court documents say.
The three officers then saw a small group of men standing at the bottom of a ravine as the two dogs later dubbed Ali and Foreman fought nearby.
Upon seeing the officers, the group scattered in different directions through the woods. Three men stayed at the fight with a fourth man, who was in a wheelchair.
Police separated the two dogs.
"Both dogs sustained serious injuries during the fight, causing both to bleed heavily from their mouths, faces and bodies," Gann wrote in the police report.
The dogs were turned over to Animal Control in Millersville, where they were treated for their injuries. The dogs are being kept as evidence at Animal Control.
The suspects
Donnell Antonio Cooper, 23, of 6846 Walker Mill Road in Capitol Heights, Nathaniel Lockley, 53, of 8612 Monmouth Drive in Upper Marlboro, and Pervis Erashano Sharps Sr., 34, of 1204 Whittington Drive in Lothian, were each charged with animal cruelty, dogfighting, mutilating animals, being a dogfighting spectator and trespassing.
Cooper was booked into the Jennifer Road Detention Center in Parole and released on recognizance yesterday following a bail review hearing at Annapolis District Court, electronic court records show. Lockley is being held at Jennifer Road on $2,600 bond following a bail review hearing yesterday. And Sharps was released from Jennifer Road on Sunday on $100,000 bond.
Police on Sunday filed charges against Kelvin Nathaniel Greathouse Jr., 23, of 12402 Circa Court in Upper Marlboro. Greathouse, who was sitting in a wheelchair at the dogfight, was arrested yesterday. He was charged with six counts of animal cruelty, dogfighting, being a dogfighting spectator, possession-training a dog for a dogfight, and two counts of animal cruelty.
Greathouse is being held at Jennifer Road on $500,000 bond. He is expected to have a bail review hearing today.
During questioning, police said Lockley told officers he had attended the dogfight with Cooper and Greathouse. He said the three arrived at the Lothian home in a U-Haul van leased by Cooper.
Police later found muddy paw prints in the back of the van, court documents say.
Lockley told police Greathouse brought one of the two dogs that were fighting from his father's house in La Plata and that another man, identified only as "Miller," brought the second dog. He said Greathouse and Miller had made a $200 bet on the fight.
When Sharps was arrested, police said he asked officers why they weren't handcuffing Greathouse. He allegedly "muttered" that Greathouse was related to him and was the one who arranged the dogfight.
Lt. James Fredericks, a county police spokesman, said officers have not recently been called to investigate any other dogfighting complaints in the Lothian area and that this is likely an isolated report.
He said the man identified only as Miller likely does not exist.
Several residents of the quaint homes scattered along Sands Road near Wallace Place would not talk to The Capital yesterday afternoon. Those that did talk said they did not know what had happened on Saturday.
'Unadoptable'
At Animal Control headquarters yesterday, Shanahan hesitantly placed his fingers into Ali's cage and let the dog lick his hand.
"He is sweet," he said. "He's not so bad."
Ali's head remained swollen. Scratches covered the dog's swollen face and his left ear was mangled. Foremen walked from one side of his cage to another and back again.
Shanahan said dogs rescued from fights are usually "unadoptable."
"You cannot adopt these dogs out," he said. "We don't know their backgrounds. It's too much of a liability."
He said Animal Control would sometimes send such dogs out of state for rehabilitation. But Ali and Foreman will likely be put down.
The dogs were both emaciated, their hipbones and ribs poking through their brindled fur.
Shanahan said Animal Control staff members are treating the dogs for their injuries and trying to put weight on their frames.
"No one is going to claim these dogs," Shanahan said. "They're abandoned."
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/top/2010/01/20-13/4-arrested-in-Lothian-dogfight.html?ne=1