Police Seize Pit Bulls, Cocaine and Handgun
By William Wan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
It began with voices in the woods -- shouts of "kill 'em" and "break his leg" -- and the sounds of dogs tearing into each other.
Last week, disturbed by what seemed to be happening on his neighbor's property, a Severna Park resident called law enforcement authorities. Anne Arundel County police searched the property and discovered what they said yesterday were facilities used in illegal dogfighting.
According to charging documents, investigators found what appeared to be training equipment: endurance-building treadmills with paw prints on the tracks and thick ropes attached to springs used to strengthen dogs' jaw muscles.
Investigators seized four pit bulls and a puppy, police said. Several of the dogs appeared to have wounds from past fights, they said. They also seized crack cocaine, a loaded handgun, drug paraphernalia and $601 in cash.
The raid comes less than a month after Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick pleaded guilty in a high-profile dogfighting case that opened a window on a secretive subculture in which pit bulls are bred and trained for combat -- and, in many instances, executed if they lose. Police said the Severna Park case is not related to the dogfights conducted on property that Vick, who has been suspended from the National Football League, owns in rural Virginia.
In Anne Arundel, police arrested Kevin Jay Green, 44, and Kathleen Marie Bell, 37, residents of the home on Glenns Road that was raided Friday. The two were charged with maintaining a dogfighting operation, cruelty to animals, arranging or conducting dogfights, possession of cocaine, possession of paraphernalia and possession of a handgun during drug trafficking.
Yesterday, in Anne Arundel District Court, Green and Bell were ordered held on $750,000 bail. If released, each is ordered not to have any contact with dogs.
At Green's bail hearing, family and friends said he could not have been involved in dogfighting. "He's scared to death of dogs," said a woman who declined to give her name.
Green, a mechanic, has lived at the Severna Park home for 14 years and has no criminal convictions, said his attorney, Joseph Bruce. In arguing for lower bail, Bruce said the gun had been left at Green's house accidentally by a friend who was in the courtroom. Bruce pointed to another friend in the courtroom, a woman, and said one of the pit bulls belonged to her, not Green.
Appearing at the hearing by closed-circuit TV, Green wore an expression of surprise throughout the proceeding and held a disfigured hand near his face in view of the camera. Bruce, saying his client is disabled and not a flight risk, told the judge that Green was shot in the hand during a break-in at his home in June.
"He's innocent of all he's been accused of," the attorney later said outside the court.
In charging documents, however, investigators detailed a two-day surveillance operation at the home, where they saw men building fence sections that they allege were for a fighting pit, and pit bulls being walked into the nearby woods. At least one appeared dead when it was carried back into the house, the documents say. Investigators also noted heavy traffic through the home, which they thought was a sign of drug trafficking.
The neighbor lodged his complaint Wednesday. The surveillance began quickly, and police had a warrant by Friday. They descended on the house with help from special operation and animal control units.
Entering through a side door, they arrested Bell in the kitchen. According to the charging documents, officers found Green near a toilet with cash and baggies of crack cocaine. Inside the toilet trap were more money and drugs, and a loaded 9mm handgun was in the hallway closet, the documents say.
Outside, two "extremely aggressive" pit bulls were kept in a pen of bare dirt with one doghouse and no shade, water or food. Three more pit bulls were found in separate cages behind the house.
"This kind of case in Anne Arundel is very rare," said Cpl. Mark Shawkey, a police spokesman. "It's the first case like this I can recall in several years."
The adult dogs, who have been trained and used in fights, will probably be put down, Shawkey said. The puppy will be evaluated by animal control officers to see whether it is adoptable.
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