Looks like he is finally in some real trouble.
We have or had cock-fighting in Wayne county but I have
not heard of dog fighting. Is it done or rumored to be done here?
Dog Fighting and Michael Vick
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Dog-fighting article in Columbus Dispatch...
By Mary Beth Lane and Gail Martineau
The felony indictment of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick shines a spotlight on the dark and bloody netherworld of organized dogfighting. The attention is welcome, Ohio investigators said, because it can educate the public about a crime that the Humane Society of the United States says is increasing nationwide.
Hard numbers are difficult to come by in this underground, illegal industry. But it is estimated that there are 40,000 professional dogfighters nationwide plus hundreds of thousands of street-level dogfighters, many of them associated with gangs, said Ann Chynoweth of the Humane Society of the United States. Ohio has its share of dogfighting, although the extent of it is not clear.
"The Michael Vick case sheds more light on it," said Sgt. David Hunt of the Franklin County sheriff's office special-investigations unit. Hunt works with the Humane Society, training police officers and deputy sheriffs in how to crack dogfighting cases. He testified before Congress last year on the need to make dogfighting a federal felony. President Bush signed the legislation in May.
If people are talking about the football superstar's indictment, so much the better, said Jennifer Kulina, Capital Area Humane Society agent. "We're thrilled," she said. "We want to make people aware of this, and that we will not tolerate this in the community."
The problem is as close as the East Side of Columbus. On Tuesday, the day a federal grand jury in Richmond, Va., indicted Vick and three others in connection with an alleged dogfighting operation on his property in Virginia, Kulina was busy with her own case. She filed five misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty against Jamison S. Vickers. On Wednesday, authorities added a felony dogfighting charge and arrested him. Bond was set at $5,000 in his arraignment yesterday. He remains in jail. Five pit bulls taken from his house on Olney Drive on the East Side are at the Capital Area Humane Society awaiting euthanization. Also recovered were a treadmill and medications that are commonly used in dogfighting, plus weapons and drugs.
Yesterday, Kulina stood at the shelter with Rita, one of the dogs confiscated. If it weren't for the scars ripped deep into her face or her round, swollen muzzle, a casual observer wouldn't know that Rita has been trained to kill. But the stench of infection gripping her body and the wheeze from a nasal-passage injury makes it evident that the young pit bull has been used in the blood sport of dogfighting. Kulina said that, as sweet as Rita and the other dogs seem, they are trained killers.
"These dogs are a danger to the community," she said. "People see us handle them and see them licking our faces, but if you brought another dog in, you would see the killer side."
Hunt said he doesn't know if dogfighting is more popular these days or whether it just seems that way because law-enforcement agencies are more intent on catching the criminals who practice dogfighting. Those people often are tied to gambling and illegal drugs. His unit started vigorously pursuing dogfighting in the last five years. In that time, Franklin County deputies have executed 40 search warrants, made 66 felony arrests and obtained more than 50 convictions, Hunt said.
Dogfighting is illegal in all 50 states, and is a felony in all but Idaho and Wyoming. It's enough of a problem here that, in 2001, Gov. Bob Taft created an Ohio Dog Fighting Task Force to study the issue. The 12-person group made a number of recommendations in its 2002 report.
"Not a one" was adopted, Hunt said, but he's pleased that Bush made dogfighting a felony federally. "That is very encouraging to local law enforcement, that the federal system is starting to pursue these cases," he said.
http://www.dispatch.com
By Mary Beth Lane and Gail Martineau
The felony indictment of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick shines a spotlight on the dark and bloody netherworld of organized dogfighting. The attention is welcome, Ohio investigators said, because it can educate the public about a crime that the Humane Society of the United States says is increasing nationwide.
Hard numbers are difficult to come by in this underground, illegal industry. But it is estimated that there are 40,000 professional dogfighters nationwide plus hundreds of thousands of street-level dogfighters, many of them associated with gangs, said Ann Chynoweth of the Humane Society of the United States. Ohio has its share of dogfighting, although the extent of it is not clear.
"The Michael Vick case sheds more light on it," said Sgt. David Hunt of the Franklin County sheriff's office special-investigations unit. Hunt works with the Humane Society, training police officers and deputy sheriffs in how to crack dogfighting cases. He testified before Congress last year on the need to make dogfighting a federal felony. President Bush signed the legislation in May.
If people are talking about the football superstar's indictment, so much the better, said Jennifer Kulina, Capital Area Humane Society agent. "We're thrilled," she said. "We want to make people aware of this, and that we will not tolerate this in the community."
The problem is as close as the East Side of Columbus. On Tuesday, the day a federal grand jury in Richmond, Va., indicted Vick and three others in connection with an alleged dogfighting operation on his property in Virginia, Kulina was busy with her own case. She filed five misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty against Jamison S. Vickers. On Wednesday, authorities added a felony dogfighting charge and arrested him. Bond was set at $5,000 in his arraignment yesterday. He remains in jail. Five pit bulls taken from his house on Olney Drive on the East Side are at the Capital Area Humane Society awaiting euthanization. Also recovered were a treadmill and medications that are commonly used in dogfighting, plus weapons and drugs.
Yesterday, Kulina stood at the shelter with Rita, one of the dogs confiscated. If it weren't for the scars ripped deep into her face or her round, swollen muzzle, a casual observer wouldn't know that Rita has been trained to kill. But the stench of infection gripping her body and the wheeze from a nasal-passage injury makes it evident that the young pit bull has been used in the blood sport of dogfighting. Kulina said that, as sweet as Rita and the other dogs seem, they are trained killers.
"These dogs are a danger to the community," she said. "People see us handle them and see them licking our faces, but if you brought another dog in, you would see the killer side."
Hunt said he doesn't know if dogfighting is more popular these days or whether it just seems that way because law-enforcement agencies are more intent on catching the criminals who practice dogfighting. Those people often are tied to gambling and illegal drugs. His unit started vigorously pursuing dogfighting in the last five years. In that time, Franklin County deputies have executed 40 search warrants, made 66 felony arrests and obtained more than 50 convictions, Hunt said.
Dogfighting is illegal in all 50 states, and is a felony in all but Idaho and Wyoming. It's enough of a problem here that, in 2001, Gov. Bob Taft created an Ohio Dog Fighting Task Force to study the issue. The 12-person group made a number of recommendations in its 2002 report.
"Not a one" was adopted, Hunt said, but he's pleased that Bush made dogfighting a felony federally. "That is very encouraging to local law enforcement, that the federal system is starting to pursue these cases," he said.
http://www.dispatch.com