Florida Attorney General's office makes nine arrests in case where dog training operation used doughnuts and peanut butter in six counties to lure bears to be mauled by the dogs.

A dog training operation that state officials say illegally used purloined pastries and peanut butter to bait, abuse and kill black bears in Volusia and Flagler counties and three other Florida counties was busted up this week.

Nine people were arrested, including an Ormond Beach man, Christopher Elliot Haun, 42, who's facing multiple charges.

In announcing the year-long investigation by her office and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi called it one of the "most horrific" violations she had ever seen. Video clips during the press conference showed bears being attacked by multiple hunting dogs.

"It's horrific, truly," Bondi said during the news conference. The group was "training dogs to pursue and attack the bears," Bondi said.

Multiple violations were documented in a 45-page affidavit on both public and private lands in Flagler, Volusia, Union, Marion, Duval and Baker counties. The investigating officers, Todd Hoyle and Benjamin Gill, described finding two dead bears, one in Volusia County and one in Union County.

The officers said the defendants lured the black bears by placing drums of dog food, pastries and doughnuts, and peanut butter in various wooded areas, then used large packs of hounds and other dogs to chase and maul the bears.

The defendants "proudly recorded and posted some of these vicious attacks on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat," Bondi said.

"This is not hunting, this is not a sport," she added. "This is cruelty to animals, the worst of the worst. Of course it was for profit, but I believe it was for their sick pleasure."

The charges include felonies and misdemeanors including animal cruelty, illegal taking and baiting of black bear, as well as violations of the state's Rackeeter Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, otherwise known as RICO. The first-degree felonies are punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

Also arrested were William Tyler Wood, 29, Troy Travis Starling, 45, Dustin Reddish, 25, and Haley Reddish, 25, of Lake Butler; Charles Luther Scarbrough III, 30, and Hannah Weiner Scarbrough, 27, of Callahan; Mark Lindsey, 26, of Moultrie, Georgia, and William Edward Landrum, 39, of Millboro, Virginia.

The officers used a combination of surveillance and mobile trackers and warrants for social media and cell phone records, including Facebook, Instagram and Snap Chat accounts. The affidavit stated Lindsey and Wood traveled to Wisconsin and Michigan to pick up and drop off dogs.

The affidavit describes months of social media posts by the defendants, with photos and videos of dogs "relentlessly pursuing and attacking bears, in several counties, including the Relay Wildlife Management Area on privately owned land in Volusia and Flagler counties and in the Ocala National Forest.

One video shows Wood beating a tree with a stick to get the bear to fall out of the tree so the dogs could attack, the affidavit stated. The group watching cheered as the bear fell and the dogs attacked. Another video, uploaded by Lindsey showed a bear on its back as it's mauled by a large pack of dogs, including dogs holding it by its ears as the other dogs bite. The officers reported another video showed Stalling and an unidentified individual skinning a large black bear.

The social media posts discussed breeding, selling and training dogs and included video with dogs "relentlessly pursuing and attacking bears.

The investigation included a May stake out at a Krispy Kreme doughnut store on Cassat Avenue in Jacksonville where wildlife officers watched the defendants went into an enclosed area without permission to take bags doughnuts from a garbage bin.

The Reddishes were recorded examining a baited area and releasing their dogs on May 18, May 27 and May 30 at Relay in Flagler County, where officers later found doughnuts, pastries and peanut butter. On June 16, the officers noted Dustin Reddish drove to a new spot in the Hunt Club in Volusia County and stayed about two hours. A few days later, the officers found barrels and drums with decaying doughnuts and peanut butter.

In June, a GPS tracker showed a dog had likely treed a bear at Relay in Volusia County, an event later posted on Snapchat and Instagram, the officers wrote in the affidavit. In July, the officers found a dead bear floating in the water at Relay.

Using hundreds and hundreds of doughnuts, the defendants baited the bears, Bondi said. "They were trying to wipe them out in a sick and inhumane way that won't be tolerated. This happened over and over and over again. (They) baited fields all year long on property where they did not belong, and doing this to black bears. I think this is going on around the country, maybe with some other animals for sport."

Some of the dogs were sent to Florida by out-of-state owners to be trained as hunting dogs, Bondi said. The FWC seized 53 dogs during the investigation, but she said "a lot more dogs" may be involved in the hunting and training operation. The affidavit stated Woods and Lindsey traveled to Wisconsin and Michigan in January to drop off and pick up hunting dogs.

Eric Sutton, executive director of the state wildlife commission, also chastised the suspects.

“The FWC wholly condemns the acts by these nine individuals outlined by this investigation," Sutton said. "As conservationists and ethical hunters, it is appalling to think about the callous disregard for common decency and our state’s precious natural resources shown by these violations. There is no place in Florida for these heinous acts.”

Haun is charged with conspiracy to commit racketeering, animal fighting or baiting, littering and unlawful taking of a black bear.

This was not Haun’s first brush with the wildlife commission. In June of 2014, he was charged with allowing his dogs to illegally pursue wildlife out of season in the Lake George Wildlife Management Area. The agency also charged him in relation to a 1999 boating accident.

Environmental groups reacted swiftly to Bondi's announcement.

Julie Wraithmell, the executive director of Audubon Florida, issued a statement saying she was grateful to see the FWC "pursuing abuses of Florida’s wildlife to the fullest extent."

"Black bears are an important part of Florida’s ecosystems and heritage," said Wraithmell, "and we’re glad to see the agency protecting them from criminal abuses like this.”