The 14 people convicted in a federal dogfighting case based in Albany will spend a combined total of 343 months in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Thursday.
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia accepted the guilty pleas from the defendants, including eight from Georgia, in March. Sentencing for the 14 concluded Thursdsy.
“Dog fighting is an odious form of organized crime, and it’s a magnet for other criminal activity,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division said. “The Justice Department and its local partners, such as the Seminole County, Georgia, Sheriff’s Office, will not tolerate this callous criminal activity.”
The dogfighters brought 24 pit bull-type dogs to Donalsonville — about 170 miles southwest of Macon — for a weekend event in April 2022. But law enforcement officers disrupted the event and found dogs inside crates in cars, prosecutors said.
“The participants used their cars to store dogs who had already been fought, as well as those whose handlers were awaiting their turn in the fighting pit,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office previously said. “Some dogs were kept on chains on the property.”
Authorities rescued 78 dogs during the investigation. Cell phone seized showed evidence of participation in dogfighting, including a group message with videos and photos, according to prosecutors.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, those convicted and their sentences are:
- Donnametric Miller, of Donalsonville, Georgia: 100 months in prison
- Fredricus White, of Panama City, Florida: 35 months in prison
- Christopher Travis Beaumont, of Panama City: 30 months in prison
- Marvin Pulley, of Donalsonville: 30 months in prison
- Cornelious Johnson, of Panama City: 27 months in prison
- Terelle Ganzy, of Panama City: 24 months in prison
- Willie Russell, of Blakely, Georgia: 24 months in prison
- Brandon Baker, of Panama City: 20 months in prison
- Terrance Davis, of Pansey, Alabama: 20 months in prison
- Tamichael Elijah, of Donalsonville: 18 months in prison
- Timothy Freeman, of Bainbridge, Georgia: time served (15 months in prison)
- Herman Buggs Jr., of Donalsonville: time served (two weeks in prison)
- Rodrecus Kimble, of Donalsonville: one year home confinement
- Gary Hopkins, of Donalsonville: six months home confinement.
In addition to prison time, the court also imposed restitution for the costs of care of dogs rescued in this investigation as part of the sentences, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The amounts of restitution were not disclosed.
The federal sentences were completed four months after a Paulding County man was sentenced to 475 years in prison after being convicted of 93 counts of dogfighting and 10 counts of cruelty to animals, the district attorney said. The sentence is believed to be the toughest ever for dogfighting, according to Jessica Rock, Georgia’s statewide animal crimes prosecutor.
Rock, who was not involved in this federal case, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that dogfighting is often linked to other violence.
“Animal crimes don’t exist by themselves,” Rock said. “These crimes are linked to human violence, such as domestic violence and child abuse. Even though animal abuse itself is a crime and is serious, it’s never just about the animal.”
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