11 wounded dogs discovered on property
San Bernardino, CA (US)Incident Date: Friday, Jan 6, 2006
County: San Bernardino
Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged:
» Albert Dean Cain, Jr.
» Albert Dean Cain, Sr. - Dismissed
Case Updates: 5 update(s) available
Two men are in custody on suspicion of raising pit bulls for fighting purposes and dealing narcotics after officers were called to their home to look into a shooting that left several bullet holes in the walls of the house.
The men, a father and grandfather, were arrested on January 6, 2006 at the house in the 1500 block of West 9th Street in San Bernardino after police served a search warrant there, said Lt. Scott Paterson. Two adult children at the home were not arrested.
Officers were called to the home about 4 p.m. after someone shot at the residence. Once there, officers found evidence of possible narcotics dealing and animal cruelty, Paterson said. Eleven dogs at the home were in various stages of training and some were injured, he said. One large male dog was healing from wounds, including bite and gouge marks on its body, likely from fighting with other pit bulls, Paterson said. Police found various items used in the training of pit bulls including treadmills, devices used to strengthen the dogs' jaws and pry them open, he said.
Investigations into the shooting and animal charges are ongoing.
Case UpdatesThe August 4th trial against accused dog-fighter Albert Dean Cain has been postponed again.
Cain, 47, will appear in court next on August 29, 2008 at 8:30 a.m. for a "readiness hearing" in San Bernardino County Superior Court. A new trial date has yet to be set.
Cain faces dog-fighting related animal cruelty charges stemming from his arrest in January 2006, when police were called to his home after someone reportedly shot at the residence.
Twelve dogs at the home were seized, many of which reportedly had injuries consistent with dog-fighting. One had to be euthanized.
Police also reportedly found various items often used to train fighting dogs, including treadmills, bite sticks and devices used to strengthen the dogs' jaws. | Source: San Bernardino County Superior Court Case # FSB055714
Update posted on Aug 6, 2008 - 6:40PM |
After numerous delays spanning more than two years, another pre-trial conference has been set for alleged dog-fighter Albert Dean Cain.
Cain, 47, will appear in court on July 10, 2008, at 8:40 a.m. in San Bernardino County Superior Court. Trial is set for August 4, 2008, at 10:00 a.m.
Cain faces felony dog-fighting and drug charges stemming from his arrest in January 2006, when police were called to his home after someone reportedly shot at the residence.
Once there, officers allegedly found evidence of narcotics and animal cruelty. Eleven dogs at the home were seized, some of which were identified as having injuries consistent with illegal animal fighting.
Police also reportedly found various items often used to train fighting dogs, including treadmills, bite sticks and devices used to strengthen the dogs' jaws.
Charges against Cain’s father, Albert Cain Sr., were dismissed last August. | Source: San Bernardino County Case #FSB055714
Update posted on Jun 5, 2008 - 5:54PM |
Albert Dean Cain, Jr. is scheduled to appear in court next on June 6 at 8:30 a.m. in Department S-12.
Cain faces felony dog-fighting and drug charges stemming from his arrest in January 2006, when police were called to his home after someone reportedly shot at his residence.
Once there, officers allegedly found evidence of narcotics and animal cruelty. Eleven dogs at the home were seized, some of which were identified as having injuries consistent with illegal animal fighting.
Nearly a year and a half later, the confiscated dogs remain at the San Bernardino animal shelter, awaiting disposition of the case. | Source: Case # FSB055714
Update posted on May 15, 2007 - 7:30PM |
Albert Dean Cain, Jr. will appear in court next on May 2 at 8:30 a.m. for a disposition hearing.
Cain faces felony dog-fighting and drug charges stemming from his arrest in January 2006, when police were called to his home after someone reportedly shot at the residence.
Once there, officers allegedly found evidence of narcotics and animal cruelty. Eleven dogs at the home were seized, some of which were identified as having injuries consistent with illegal animal fighting.
Police also reportedly found various items often used to train fighting dogs, including treadmills, bite sticks and devices used to strengthen the dogs' jaws.
Charges against Cain’s father, Albert Cain Sr., were dismissed last August. | Source: San Bernardino County Case # FSB055714
Update posted on Apr 2, 2007 - 5:42PM |
Languishing in individual cages at the San Bernardino animal shelter, Tequila and 10 other pit bulls are well into their second year of near-constant confinement.
"They're 'cage crazy,' " animal-control Officer Joyce Gossman said of the dogs she confiscated Jan. 6, 2006, at a house in central San Bernardino.
The bored animals occasionally pace in circles, stare into the distance or bob their heads from side to side.
They're being held as evidence in a felony dog-fighting case that is scheduled to return to court March 29. But the critters also are evidence that dog-fighting and cock-fighting cases often are difficult to prove and can face a long and bumpy road through the courts.
"We try to get them out at least once a day for a 15-minute run," Gossman said of the dogs that she describes as people-friendly but savagely aggressive toward other dogs.
"Even prisons give (inmates at least) an hour, but that's all we can do."
As miserable as they are now, their prospects might be worse. Confiscated dogs that are proven to have been bred and trained to fight usually are put down because, experts say, they're too dangerous to be adopted.
Some animal-cruelty investigators say it's time for animal-fighting offenders to be prosecuted more frequently and aggressively. The number of offenses, particularly dog fighting, is increasing throughout California, said Eric Sakach, West Coast director for the Humane Society of the United States.
"Forty-eight states now carry it as a felony crime," Sakach said. "But law enforcement is slow to pick up on how to investigate these cases."
Some major police agencies, including those in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago, have, or are establishing, task forces to fight the problem.
As for birds, cockfighting has been particularly prevalent in San Bernardino, Riverside, Imperial and San Diego counties since 1998, when neighboring Arizona made the crime a felony, Sakach said.
Now that California has made it a felony for second and subsequent convictions, Sakach predicts another migration.
"The smart (animal fighters) are going to either drop out or move to ... misdemeanor states," Sakach said. "Dog fighting is still a misdemeanor in Idaho and Wyoming.
"Cockfighting is legal in ... Louisiana."
Nationwide, animal-fighting cases tend to move slowly through the courts, experts say.
"They drag out until anybody who would testify is gone. People retire. People get transferred. The employee goes off on vacation and the trial comes up," said Ken Childress, Gossman's boss and the director of the San Bernardino Department of Animal Control. "I came from Memphis, and I had cases there that (lasted) ... for years."
The delays aren't simply the result of defense lawyers dragging their feet, either, he said.
Junior prosecutors usually are assigned to animal-fighting cases, but they often rise through the ranks faster than low-priority dog-fighting cases typically get to trial, requiring assignment of new prosecutors, Childress said.
"And by the time the next (prosecutor) comes along, the new junior person doesn't have any experience in animal cases," he said.
Law-enforcement agencies also have given low priority to animal-fighting cases. Though dog fights have long been subject to felony charges, it's often difficult to prove who is responsible for a fight without an eyewitness willing to testify in court, Gossman said.
Cockfighting only became subject to felony charges Jan. 1 -- and only if the suspect has a previous conviction for cockfighting and a prosecutor decides that the new incident is serious enough to warrant a felony charge.
No one keeps comprehensive statistics on the number of animal-fighting arrests in San Bernardino and Riverside counties. But San Bernardino County district attorney statistics show that only one charge of dog fighting was issued last year and two charges of possession of a bird or other animal for the purpose of fighting.
An additional 23 charges of animal cruelty were issued in San Bernardino County, though that lesser charge can cover anything from apparent fight-related injuries to underfeeding or overworking the animal.
Major differences between the two crimes include the participants and their motives.
"When you're talking about dog-fighting, you're (generally) talking about criminal elements: a lot of drugs, a lot of gang members," said Lt. Chris Mayer, of the Riverside County Department of Animal Services. "When you're talking about cockfighting, more of that is cultural with the Hispanic population," including those from Mexico where cockfighting is legal and popular.
Tequila the pit bull wags her tail and exudes friendliness when a visitor approaches her padlocked chain-link cage.
But the instant she is taken out for a walk, Tequila, and the 10 other confiscated pit bulls held nearby, go berserk.
Teeth bared, they lunge at each other, their attacks thwarted only by the caging. Some leap to the ceilings of the 6-foot-high enclosures. And the barking is ferocious and incessant.
The dogs belong to Albert Dean Cain Jr., according to court testimony.
"I was not fighting my dogs," Cain said in a brief telephone interview.
Cain, 46, said they are show dogs. His legal troubles began, both sides agree, after he summoned police, saying he'd been shot at during a drive-by shooting outside the San Bernardino house where he and his dogs lived at the time.
Police called animal-control officers after they noticed that Tequila had a badly torn ear.
A Superior Court judge decided there was enough evidence against Cain to warrant a trial, based partly on the testimony of Gossman, the animal-control officer who seized the dogs.
She focused largely on injuries, court records show. Two dogs had fresh cuts and punctures and the rest had healing scars, she testified.
She also told of finding dog-fighting paraphernalia, including treadmills, antibiotics, bags filled with intravenous fluids, and sticks that she believes are the type that dog fighters use to pry open the jaws of their animals to break up a fight.
The judge also was told that one room of the house amounted to a dog-fighting pit, its walls splattered with blood as high as 3 feet above the floor.
If Cain wins, animal-control director Childress said, he'll likely face a bill of tens of thousands of dollars for the dogs' lodging and medical care while at the shelter -- unless he signs them over to the city.
But if he gives up ownership, or is convicted and the dogs are permanently taken away from him by the court, the shelter would have no other choice than euthanizing them, Childress said.
They're too aggressive for officials to risk the possibility that they'd end up as pets and conceivably attack other animals or even children, he said. And once bred and trained for fighting, Childress said, they don't mellow out.
"They wouldn't be good adoption candidates." | Source: Press-Enterprise - March 25, 2007
Update posted on Mar 27, 2007 - 3:47AM |
References« CA State Animal Cruelty Map
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