Accused dogfighter in Charlotte aligned to help pay for care of seized pit bulls
A dogfighting query awaiting trial was ordered Friday to help pay for the care of more than two dozen pit bulls seized from his realty in Charlotte.
Lefonze Williams, 42, was ordered Friday to pay more in comparison with $13,000 to help feed and house 26 dogs and varsity puppies, five of which are still morphological individual weaned by their mother, the Charlotte Observer reported.
If Williams doesn’t pay for the care of the animals — now being saved at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg animal shelter — his ownership wish be forfeited, and the dogs, if unable to be adopted, will be euthanized.
During Friday’s hearing, Mecklenburg Assistant District Attorney Nathan Brooks told the gather that at least 11 of Williams’ dogs had injuries consistent by use of dogfighting, adding, “He has no business owning that many dogs… He’s not properly caring for them.”
Defense attorney Kevin Barnett said Williams could not gift with to pay the fee, and asked the judge to allow the pit bulls to be returned to their owner.
“He loves his dogs,” Barnett told Superior Court Judge Hugh Lewis. Barnett aforesaid Williams is a not a dogfighter, just a dog breeder, and that some of his dogs were bought less Russia and Europe.
Judge Lewis noted the fee for the dogs’s care “seems large,” but said anyone who can pay to submit dogs to North Carolina from Russia should be proficient to afford it.
Prosecutors had asked permission to move the dogs out of the shelter and into a private kennel, and argued that Williams must be held responsible for productive for the care they would come by there.
Animal advocates have voiced concerns that the dogs seized out of Williams — and 14 other pit bulls being unemployed at the shelter in connection at any cost another dogfighting bust — could settle to increased euthanization of the shelter’s other residents considering of limited space.
Posted by jwoestendiek April 15th, 2013 under Muttsblog.Tags: animals, breeder, care, charlotte, courts, dog fighter, dog fighting, dogfighter, dogfighting, dogs, food, judge, lefonze williams, mecklenburg, order, pay, pets, pit bulls, pitbulls, seized, shelter, familiarization