Hog-dog fighting - Hollywood, FL

Saturday, Dec 31, 2005

County: Broward

Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Acquitted

Persons of Interest:
» Richard C Kresley, III - Convicted
» Arthur Parker, Sr.
» Don Matthews
» Jorge Diaz
» Ariel Diaz

Case Updates: 4 update(s) available

A South Carolina man acquitted in October on animal cruelty charges has been arrested and accused of organizing fights between wild hogs and dogs in Florida.

Arthur Parker, 48, and four others are accused of organizing hog-dog fights in late 2004 on a portion of the Seminole Indian Reservation in Glades County, Fla., according to a news release from the Humane Society of the United States.

Seminole police Detective Stephan Lopez said Parker faces felony charges of animal baiting or fighting and could face up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine if he is convicted.

Parker was arrested on January 26, 2006 in Chester County and is being held at the county jail on a $150,000 bond, Lopez said. The other four men arrested face similar charges. They are Rick Kresley, of Alburtis, Pa.; Don Matthews, of Fort Pierce, Fla.; and Jorge and Ariel Diaz, both of Homestead, Fla.

In October, a South Carolina jury found Parker and Mary Evans Luther, both of Fort Mill, not guilty of animal fighting and animal cruelty charges. Prosecutors said the couple had been organizing fights between hogs and dogs in South Carolina.

In the fights, a dog and a hog or wild boar with its tusks removed are put in a pen to fight until the dog forces the hog to the ground. The Humane Society said these events are often deadly, and have "no place in civil society."

State Law Enforcement Division officials seized 95 dogs and 15 hogs from the Parker's Fort Lawn home during a 2004 raid. The couple's attorney, Michael Hemlepp, argued his clients had been training animals, not participating in illegal animal fighting.

Three other hog-dog fighting cases are currently awaiting trial in South Carolina, including one involving Parker's son, Arthur Parker Jr., said Mark Plowden, a spokesman for state Attorney General Henry McMaster.

"Attorney General McMaster has always firmly believed in the charges in the hogdogging cases," Plowden said. "The remaining cases will be tried vigorously in court." In South Carolina, animal fighting is a felony with a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. There is no mandatory minimum sentence.

Case Updates

While two of his colleagues were acquitted last week, Richard C. Kresley III of Alburtis is on probation for his involvement in an October 2004 ''hog-dog rodeo'' on an Indian reservation in Glades County, Fla. Such competitions involve releasing wild hogs in large pens, then having dogs chase and catch them. The dogs lock their jaws onto the hogs until released by human handlers. Proponents argue the timed events train dogs for wild hog hunting. But the Humane Society of the United States calls them ''gruesome animal cruelty'' that mutilate feral hogs and also can injure dogs. Kresley was identified in Florida court documents as an organizer and judge at the Oct. 9, 2004, event on the Brighton Seminole Indian Reservation near Okeechobee. Like the others, Kresley faced a felony charge of fighting or baiting animals. If convicted, he faced up to five years in prison. On Wednesday, a Glades County jury acquitted Arthur Parker of Fort Lawn, S.C., and Don Matthews of Hartwell, Ga.Court documents identified Parker as president of the International Catchdog Association and Kresley as the organization's vice president. Rather than go to trial, Kresley pleaded no contest to the charge in June 2006 and received 18 months of reporting probation, according to Leslie Taylor, felony clerk in Glades County Court. ''It won't be on his record as a guilty conviction,'' Taylor said. Kresley also had to pay fines and court costs totaling $830 and was ordered to do 100 hours of community service ''at an animal-related charity or facility.'' ''Please emphasize that nobody found him guilty, he's not guilty,'' said Travis Trueblood, the lawyer who represented Kresley, 32, and the other men. Several attempts to reach Kresley for comment about the case were not successful. Trueblood said Kresley decided pleading no contest was the smarter move at the time. ''It's not really a bad option. It saves you resources and the worry of, 'If I went to trial and I lost, what would happen to me?''' The lawyer said going through a trial can be a very stressful ordeal and a big risk, because it could result in becoming a convicted felon. ''It can put an amazing amount of strain on your family and you personally.'' Trueblood said people who get withheld adjudication from a judge, as Kresley did, ''typically have never been in trouble before, so the court will give them a break.'' ''You can have everything sealed and expunged from your record, so technically you've never been arrested before under Florida law.'' Trueblood described Kresley as ''a good guy'' who's trying to put his life back together. He said Kresley has taken some abuse from animal rights advocates. While the hog-dog rodeo was in October 2004, Florida officials didn't issue an arrest warrant for Kresley until August 2005. Pennsylvania State Police learned about that warrant after Kresley was involved in a local traffic accident on Nov. 16, 2005. He spent a night in Lehigh County Prison, then was released under $50,000 bail.

Source: The Morning Call - Jan 31, 2007 Update posted on Jan 31, 2007 - 1:19PM

A Fort Lawn man has been acquitted in a Florida court of charges stemming from a hog-dog rodeo. He was acquitted of similar charges in Chester County in late 2005. After nearly an hour of deliberation, a Glades County, Fla. jury acquitted Arthur Parker of Fort Lawn and Don Matthews of Hartwell, Ga. Wednesday for baiting and fighting animals in connection with a catch dog field trial held on the Brighton Seminole Indian Reservation, the men's lawyer said. Both Parker and Matthews were charged last year for baiting and fighting animals after an investigation by the Seminole Tribe of Florida's Police Department, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office of Inspector General and the Office of the State Attorney for the 20th Judicial Circuit of Florida. In Florida, the baiting and fighting of animals is a third degree felony. Parker was extradited to Florida from Chester County after his arrest here on a warrant. He spent more than a week in jail here before he was sent to Florida, and was in jail there for some time before posting bond. The charges stemmed from an Oct. 9, 2004 catch dog field trial held on the reservation. Catch dog field trials are a valuable training tool for training dogs to catch feral hogs hunted in the wild. That event was held about two weeks before a similar event in Richburg, for which Parker and four others were charged in December 2004. Parker and his companion Mary Luther were acquitted in late 2005. Parker's son Art Parker Jr., Thomas Guffy and Vicky Stoltz Land, then Chester County's Animal Control director, were also arrested in the case. Those three have not yet been to trial here. According to Mark Plowden, communications director for S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster, Parker, Jr. and Land remain under indictment and the office plans to try both cases. "As for Guffy, the office will make a decision whether or not to pursue indictment(s) based on warrants obtained by law enforcement," he said.. Catch dog field trials have been billed by animal rights activists and anti-hunting groups as animal fighting and cruel to the animals involved, according to a release from Parker's lawyer in Florida. However, catch dog field trials are not per se illegal under Florida law, Travis Trueblood said. He talked to three jurors after the trial who told him they agreed with the way he presented his case. The only witnesses he called were Parker and Matthews, who testified that conducting hog-dog rodeos is a legitimate field trial, used to both train dogs to catch hogs in the wild, and for groups of hunters to evaluate the training of their dogs in controlled environments. The Humane Society of the United States, which Trueblood called an anti-hunting group, sent an undercover private investigator onto the reservation to secretly tape these events for authorities. After procuring the tape, the investigator approached tribal authorities with the matter. That private eye, George Owens, testified also in Chester County, having secretly taped the field trial held at a Richburg lumber yard for which Parker was charged, but later acquitted here. Trueblood said the prosecution billed the events as a blood sport, and there was some testimony that a hog had had its testicles ripped off. But the video didn't show any blood, he said. No animals were killed on the tape. The prosecution put up Owens and some agents from the USDA, but the Seminole Public Safety Office, which arrested Parker and Matthews, did not attend the trial or testify, Trueblood said. Trueblood of Lakeland, Fla., is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and founding member of the Trueblood Law Group, P.A., a law firm dedicated to the preservation of tribal sovereignty. He tried to have the charges dropped in a pre-trial motion by saying the offenses happened on an Indian reservation, but the judge ruled against that motion. Luther was eager to get Parker back home, Trueblood said. While dozens of family and supporters attended Parker's trial in Chester County, Trueblood said about 10 friends and fellow hunters made the trip to Florida for this trial. "I don't know if we could have gotten a better jury," Trueblood said. Glades County is small and "pretty rural."

Source: Chester News & Reporter - Jan 26, 2007 Update posted on Jan 26, 2007 - 5:56PM

A Fort Lawn man arrested on animal cruelty charges three weeks ago on a fugitive warrant from Florida has been extradited to that state. Arthur Parker of 1555 Mt. Vernon Road, Fort Lawn, was arrested Jan. 27 on a charge of animal fighting brought by the Seminole Law Enforcement Agency. A private company picked him up on Feb. 8 and took him to Florida. The Chester County Sheriff's Office picked up Parker at his home on Jan. 27 on a fugitive warrant, according to Chief Deputy Bernie Culpepper. He is under a $150,000 bond set in Florida when the arrest warrant was issued on fighting and animal baiting charges. Parker waived extradition, Chester Deputy Kim Carnes said, and he spent 13 days in the Chester County jail waiting for a company hired by Florida police to transport him. The charges say Parker helped organize a hog-dog event on the Seminole Indian reservation near Hollywood, Fla., in October 2004. Parker was one of five people arrested in Chester County in December 2004 on animal fighting charges for either staging or attending fights that pitted dogs against wild hogs in a pen. The S.C. warrants said they staged a hog-dog rodeo at a Richburg lumber yard on Oct. 16, 2004, a week after the fight listed in the Florida warrant. Parker and companion Mary Luther were put on trial last October. A Chester County jury acquitted the couple on all animal fighting charges after a week-long trial. The S.C. Attorney General's Office has said the trials against the other three defendants will proceed when court time can be scheduled. Luther said Thursday she did not know whether Parker had been extradited. She said she is caring for her mother, who broke her back a few days after Parker's arrest. Luther has called the continued prosecution of Parker a case of "domestic terrorism" in Chester County. Officers at the Seminole Law Enforcement Agencies have not responded to repeated calls since Parker was arrested. Parker's arrest was used by an animal welfare group as a talking point in its efforts to lobby for a bill to ban the practice in South Carolina. John Goodwin, deputy manager of the Humane Society of the United States, toured South Carolina's major media markets two weeks ago. According to the Associated Press, a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing Tuesday on the bill proposed by state Sen. Larry Grooms, a Charleston Republican, to outlaw hog-dog rodeos. Grooms said there is an undercurrent of discomfort with the bill in the Senate, according to the AP. Defenders of hog-dog rodeo say those people against it are against hunting and outdoorsmanship. Grooms said he is a bird hunter and supporter of hunting rights but believes the practice is not hunting or a field trial.

Source: News and Reporter - Feb 17, 2006 Update posted on Mar 6, 2006 - 3:21AM

An Alburtis man illegally helped organize and judge a bloody competition between dogs and captured wild hogs on a Florida Indian reservation more than a year ago, authorities say. Richard C. Kresley III, 31, faces a felony charge of fighting or baiting animals at an October 2004 ''hog-dog rodeo'' in Glades County, Fla. If convicted, Kresley would face up to five years in prison, said Scott Cupp, Florida assistant state attorney for Glades County. Kresley was picked up by Pennsylvania State Police in November 2005 on a Florida warrant, and Art Parker of Fort Lawn, S.C., identified as president of the International Catchdog Association, was arrested on charges stemming from the 2004 event. ''Kresley was always there by Parker's side,'' said Goodwin. Kresley is identified in Florida court documents as vice president of the International Catchdog Association and Southern American Bulldog Coalition. Those documents identify Kresley as an organizer and judge at the Oct. 9, 2004, event, which was attended by at least 75 people and took place behind a home on the Brighton Seminole Indian Reservation near Okeechobee. Kresley's arrest was partly based on evidence presented to police by George Owens, a Humane Society private investigator. Two undercover law enforcement agents also were at the event and videotaped it, said Will Latchford, deputy chief of the reservation's police department. On the videos, police observed Kresley standing in the ring where dogs were released to attack hogs during the event, according to the arrest affidavit. He also was observed releasing a dog to attack a hog and ordered others to release dogs. The affidavit states Kresley also promoted sales of a DVD of the event, a violation of federal law. ''The guy's never been in trouble in his life, as far as I know,'' said James Anthony, Kresley's lawyer in Allentown. He described Kresley as ''a hard-working family man who likes the outdoors. He's an outdoorsman. He's a regular guy. He's got a family with children. His family is extremely important to him.'' Anthony said Kresley raises sporting bulldogs and participates in competitions. Goodwin said Kresley does that under the name Redrock American Bulldog Kennel. ''The allegations against him are exaggerated,'' said Travis Trueblood, Kresley's lawyer in Florida. Trueblood said he entered a not guilty plea on behalf of his client. ''We plan on fighting the case and seeing it through to the end.'' Kresley will have to appear at a Feb. 6, 2006 docket sounding, during which judges set trial dates, Latchford said. But Trueblood said Kresley is not required to be present. An arrest warrant was issued for Kresley on Aug. 9, 2005. Latchford said it took 10 months to identify everyone in videos and determine their involvement. ''It's still an ongoing investigation.'' Anthony said Pennsylvania State Police learned Florida had a warrant on Kresley when he was involved in a minor traffic accident Nov. 16, 2005 on Route 22. He said Kresley had no idea anyone wanted to arrest him.

Source: The Morning Call - January 28, 2006 Update posted on Feb 10, 2006 - 5:45PM

References

• HSUS
• - Jan 26, 2006
• « FL State Animal Cruelty Map
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