Daniel J. Kov

@danieljkov

NEWARK - Four Cumberland County residents were among several charged Wednesday for their alleged roles in an interstate dogfighting network, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Vineland residents Anthony “Monte” Gaines, 35, Lydell Harris, 30, and Tiffany Burt, 34, were arrested, along with Millville resident Frank Nichols, 39.

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Also arrested were Justin Love, 36, of Westville; Mario Atkinson, 40, of Asbury Park; and out-of-state residents Dajwan Ware, 43, of Indiana; Pedro Cuellar, 46, of Illinois; and Robert Arellano, 62, of New Mexico.

According to U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, each suspect is charged under the federal Animal Welfare Act with training, transporting and buying and selling dogs in an illegal multistate dog fighting network.

Several criminal complaints provided by Fishman's office detailed the horrific abuses the dogs suffered, including poor living conditions, giving the animals IV injections, serious injuries sustained and care methods that made the pit bulls aggressive.

“Dogfighting is truly an organized criminal activity, as well as a deplorable trade in the suffering of animals,” Assistant Attorney General John Cruden said. “This case marks the beginning of a coordinated effort at the Department of Justice to meet organized dogfighting head-on with a strategic, aggressive federal response.”

Dogs involved in the alleged conspiracy were said to be pit bull types, Fishman said in a news release, and many of the fights took place in New Jersey beginning in October.

Fishman alleged the arrested individuals set the dogs up for fighting matches in which they mauled and attacked each other until death.

Federal investigators began wiretapping the phones of several of the suspects in New Jersey beginning in October.

Snippets of conversations reveal discussions — in graphic detail — of dogfighting ventures, including dog bloodlines, training methods, fighting techniques and the buying/selling market.

In the complaint against Burt, Nichols and Gaines, the three are accused to have participated in discussions about dogfighting, housing and more.

In one call, Gaines — who apparently shared a residence with Burt in Vineland — allegedly discussed a dog named “Doublecross,” who in a fight had apparently “shredded (the other) dog’s face super bad.”

Gaines described Doublecross biting another dog's neck and compared it to the sound a ball makes when someone lets the air out of it.

On Oct. 9, a call between Love and Gaines reportedly involved the discussion of “Momba,” Love’s dog who apparently had just given birth.

A call between the two the following day revealed more of Love’s apparent plans for the puppies, with the suspect allegedly explaining how he planned for them to be “killers” by the time they were 2-and-a-half years old.

Several days later, Gaines and Love reportedly discussed an educational class about administering intravenous drugs to dogs, investigators said.

“He’s going to teach us how to do IV dogs, how to hit veins, how to do everything, in eight hours,” Love allegedly told Gaines about a teacher he had found.

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Toward the end of an alleged dog fight on Oct. 19, Arellano gave Gaines a ring about whether to call a fight a draw after both dogs were injured.

Arellano described a cold night where his dog was unable to stand up and his opponent's dog was "beat down" and eventually died after a fight.

Law enforcement officers eventually conducted a search warrant of Gaines’ and Burt’s residence on Nov. 19.

During their search, the officers said they seized six live pit bull dogs, including two puppies and four adult dogs that were “housed individually in stacked dog shipping crates, in an unfinished basement of the residence.”

The four adult dogs had “scarring” and “extreme musculature,” and “displayed aggression toward other dogs,” investigators said.

Training and surgery tools also were allegedly found at the property.

In the criminal complaint against Harris, the suspect is alleged to have participated in a fighting venture between October and November, and stored several dogs in a shed at his Vineland residence.

Investigators said they intercepted cellphone conversations between Harris and others in which he discussed dogfights, dog breeding and the treatment of injuries sustained in fights.

In a series of calls, Harris is alleged to have discussed his training of a dog named “Tee Tee” to hold a bite on other dogs, as well as storing dogs in a 12-foot shed hidden from open view.

Harris apparently mocked the SPCA in one conversation.

“SPCA came … they couldn’t do nothing,” he is accused of saying in one phone call. “They can’t touch them. They can’t even go in to look at them. They can’t get a warrant to mess with them, nothing. They can’t rescue the dogs.”

In another call, Harris is said to have discussed his dog training method: a spring pole.

On Oct. 26, Harris allegedly said in a call, “Zip ‘em up, another one dead,” and that Tee Tee “never hit a wall. Mouth work, chest work — she even touched a kidney once or twice. The throat work was impeccable … every time that dog went down, she was pushing carpet in her throat, bro.”

Two weeks later, Harris is said to have stated: “I got a two-time winner. When the other dog was on top of her, Tee Tee was still twisting underneath, still in her throat.”

Investigators in April eventually found two sheds at Harris’ property, as well as four chain-link fence dog kennels, dog houses, dog crates and a pit bull with a chain around its neck.

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The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jihee Suh and Kathleen O’Leary, of the District of New Jersey; as well as the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section Trial Attorneys Ethan Eddy and Shennie Patel.

If convicted, each suspect faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine per count of animal fighting charges.

Sixty-six dogs were rescued in the operation and are being treated by the Humane Society of the United States.

Fishman said the case is part of a federal coordinated effort named “Operation Grand Champion” designed to combat organized dogfighting.

“There is no place in New Jersey — or anywhere else, for that matter — for a vicious blood sport like dogfighting,” Fishman said. “Not only is it unspeakably cruel to the animals that are raised to participate in dogfighting, but animals trained in this way can be extremely dangerous to the public.”