DOGFIGHTING RING BUSTED! DRUGS, GUNS, CASH & DOGS!

Authorities in Michigan busted a major dogfighting ring in an early-morning raid Sunday, seizing guns, drugs, cash and dogs from a garage in a rural town about 45 miles south of Detroit.

Monroe County police said that dozens of suspects were holding an actual dogfight at a home in Raisinville Township when sheriff's deputies staged the raid at about 1:35 a.m.

At least 10 people were detained at the two-car garage, and cops used K-9 search teams to track down eight others who fled the scene, according to the Toledo Blade.

Investigators also rescued five dogs from the garage, including two that were badly hurt and might have to be put down.

"It was brutal," Detective Sgt. Heath Velliquette of the Monroe County Sheriff's Office told The Monroe Evening News. "There was blood everywhere."

In addition to the dogs, police seized more than $40,000 in cash, a large stash of cocaine and marijuana, at least one handgun and training equipment – including a dog treadmill and a fighting ring, the Blade reported.

On Sunday afternoon, volunteers from the Monroe Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said they visited the house and found four other dogs -- including one pit bull puppy -- that could have been involved in the alleged ring.

Trina Stillwagon, the society's founder, said the dogs were found in some woods behind the house.

"They are so hungry they are eating dirt," she told the Blade. "They would have starved to death if they were left out here tonight."

Authorities were acting on a tip from the U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector general's office, which investigates dogfighting operations across the country.

The ring appears to have crossed state lines, as the suspects were from Ohio, Indiana, Georgia, Missouri and Michigan.

Monroe County prosecutor William Paul Nichols told the Blade that "by far, this certainly would be the biggest" dogfighting operation discovered in the county in recent memory.

Neighbors said they had heard dogs on the property but didn't know about the brutal and illegal ring.

"We've heard dogs yelling and yipping, so I just figured they had a bunch of dogs over there," Robert Pine, a neighbor, told Detroit's WJBK-TV.

The suspects face several charges of dogfighting, a felony in Michigan that carries a four-year prison term and a $50,000 fine.



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