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3
charged
in Ill.
dogfighting
ring at
day care
By
SOPHIA
TAREEN
Associated
Press
Writer
A home
day care
was the
site of
a
dogfighting
ring,
authorities
said
Wednesday,
and
investigators
who
raided
the
house
found a
blood-spattered
garage
floor
and
battered
and
malnourished
dogs not
far from
where
the
children
played.
Three
men were
charged
Wednesday,
including
the day
care
operator's
husband,
and
authorities
were
seeking
two
others.
Authorities
had
initially
said
four
people
had been
arrested.
Nine
battered
dogs —
four of
which
were
puppies
— were
rescued,
police
said.
"The
dogs
were in
horrific
condition,"
Cook
County
Sheriff
Tom Dart
said at
the
Animal
Welfare
League
in
suburban
Chicago
Ridge,
where
several
of the
dogs
were
undergoing
surgery
and
rehabilitation.
"This is
as bad
as we've
seen."
He
described
a
gruesome
scene in
the day
care's
garage,
with
blood
all over
the
floor
and a
car.
Police
also
found
items
such as
syringes,
bite
sticks
and a
treadmill
that had
been
altered
to be
used
specifically
to train
the
dogs.
Officers
also
recovered
a 1996
edition
of
"Sporting
Dog
Journal."
All
three
charged
were
from
Maywood:
Charles
Sutton,
42, the
husband
of the
day care
operator,
and
Lance
Webb,
27, were
charged
with
felony
dogfighting.
Martez
Anderson,
38, was
charged
with
being a
felon in
possession
of an
unspayed
or
unneutered
dog.
Phone
listings
could
not be
located
for the
men and
it was
not
immediately
unclear
if they
had
attorneys.
Day care
officials
could
not
immediately
be
reached.
No one
answered
a knock
at the
door of
the
home, a
cream
stucco
building
with a
neatly
trimmed
yard and
potted
plants.
Dart
said
approximately
10
children
were
found in
the day
care
during
the raid
Tuesday,
but they
were not
in the
immediate
vicinity
of the
dogs.
Neighbors
and
authorities
say the
day care
was
operated
out of
the
basement
of the
house
and a
fenced-in
play
area was
in the
backyard.
Illinois
Department
of
Children
and
Family
Services
spokesman
Kendall
Marlowe
said the
Maywood
day care
was shut
down
Wednesday
and was
under
investigation.
He said
it had
been
licensed
since
March
2004 and
for a
capacity
of seven
children.
He said
two
complaints
were
received
— in
2006 and
2007 —
about
dogs at
the
home.
But
after
DCFS
officials
made
unannounced
visits,
dogs
were
only
found
locked
in the
garage
and not
near
children.
Marlowe
said the
day care
operator
agreed
to a
plan to
keep
dogs
from the
day care
areas of
the
home.
"This
day care
home is
now
closed,
and we
will
monitor
the home
going
forward
to
ensure
that it
does not
reopen,"
Marlowe
said in
a
statement
Wednesday.
Dart
said the
operator
told
police
that she
was not
involved
in dog
fighting
and that
children
were
never
near the
dogs or
dog
fighting
equipment.
Anetta
Smith,
who
lives
near the
day
care,
said her
daughters
— ages 3
and 5 —
had been
going
there
since
they
were six
weeks
old. The
Maywood
resident
said she
has been
happy
with the
level of
care
they
received.
"She has
a nice
business,"
Smith
said of
the
operator.
"She's a
very
good day
care
provider."
Smith, a
23-year-old
college
student,
said
Sutton
owned a
dog,
which he
walked
around
the
neighborhood.
But she
had
"never
seen
anything
out of
the
ordinary."
Neighbor
Glenn
Durias
said he
also saw
Sutton
walk the
dogs and
give
them
commands,
but
never
saw them
act
violently
or be
close to
children.
"I've
never
seen the
children
and the
dogs
interact
with one
another,"
he said.
Officers
had
raided
the
Maywood
day care
and two
other
nearby
homes on
Tuesday
to
rescue
the
dogs. On
Wednesday,
Dart
cradled
one
cream-colored
8-week-old
puppy
that was
missing
an eye
and had
scratches
on its
face.
"The
dogs had
been
thrown
into
fights,"
he said.
Linda
Estrada,
president
of the
Animal
Welfare
League,
said the
dogs
were
being
evaluated.
"We're
going to
fatten
them up,
give
them
love and
care,"
she
said.
"Then
they
will go
up for
adoption."
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