AR-News: (OK - US) Dogfighting arrests

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Dogfighting inquiry yields six more arrests 
By RALPH W. MARLER World Staff Writer 
5/27/2004 


The arrest tally stands at 20, and two men are being sought. 



HOLDENVILLE -- Six more people, including a former NFL football player, have been arrested in a dogfighting-drug ring investigation, officials said Wednesday. 

The arrests now total 20 in the effort to break up what officials said was a major state dogfighting ring. 

"We know there's a lot more involved," said Mark Woodward, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control. 

Meanwhile, LeShon Johnson, a former resident of Haskell and Skiatook who played professional football in the 1990s for the New York Giants, surrendered to the Hughes County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday. 

Osage County Sheriff Russell Cottle said Johnson had been arrested in February 2000 for dogfighting at his home near Skiatook Lake. 

Osage County District Attorney Larry Stuart deferred prosecution  

on the charge on the condition that Johnson get rid of his dogs and stay away from dogfights, Cottle said. 

Hughes County Sheriff Houston Yeager said Malik E. Reyes, 25, of Oklahoma City turned himself in late Wednesday. 

Also booked into the Hughes County Jail were Mark A. Smith, 38; his wife, Susie Ann Smith, 38; and Jimmy Dale Delozier, 33, all of Holdenville; and Jon D. McDaniel, 24, of Edmond. 

Woodward said officials are still looking for Herbert Sarty III of Coweta and Lee Broom of Spencer. 

Hughes County Assistant District Attorney Linda Evans said she is reviewing investigators' reports to determine what charges to file against each of the 22 people who allegedly were involved in the dogfighting-drug network. 

Felony counts will involve criminal conspiracy of dogfighting by instigating or encouraging the practice, keeping a place or equipment for dogfighting, and owning, keeping or training a dog for fighting, she said. 

Some defendants will face more than one count, Evans said, and a few will face misdemeanor counts of being spectators at dogfighting. 

Yeager said most of those who were arrested posted bail ranging from $10,000 to $50,000. 

Woodward said state narcotics agents and veterinarians started investigating the dogfighting 18 months ago while pursuing a marijuana sale. 

Undercover agents bought or received some dogs as gifts and watched several dogfights in the state, he said. 

Most of those involved live in Hughes County. 

Camille Gann, 51, of Wetumka allegedly conducted a dogfight at her home in January 2003 and again last January, according to an affidavit for an arrest warrant. 

State drug control agent Jim Ward said in an affidavit that he saw Gann put three dogs into fights in 2003 and another last January. 

Ward also said he bought a dog for $100 from Gann's son, Aaron Johnson, 27, and that Gann gave him another dog. 

Gann conducted betting at the dogfights and sold concessions, Ward's affidavit said. 

Gann and her son were among those arrested Tuesday. 

In an affidavit for an arrest warrant for Robert E. Taylor, Ward said Taylor helped organize a dogfight at Gann's home and collected a $25 admission fee from those in attendance. 

Others arrested were Billie Rae Noon, 18, of Tulsa; Steve Ray Standifer, 44, and his wife, Ruby Standifer, 50, of McComb; Mike K. Sanders, 31, of Wetumka; Matthew R. Sanford, 19, of Holdenville; Jessie M. Bunyard, 29, of Wetumka; Michael Newbold, 20, of Holdenville; Julius Griffin of Tulsa; and Kenneth Roughface and Linda Johnson, both of Wetumka.