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New law gives teeth to animal cruelty statute

By Lara Bricker
lbricker@seacoastonline.com

A new law passed in reaction to a case in Newton in which a man was breeding pit bulls for fighting will make it a felony to breed dogs, birds or another animals for fighting.

Senate Bill 79 added a prohibition to RSA 644:8-a for intentionally breeding animals for fighting and made cockfighting a felony-level offense. Cockfighting was only a misdemeanor offense, prosecuted at the district court level, before the amendment to RSA 644:8-a.

The legislation was introduced as a result of meetings organized by Steve Sprowl, cruelty investigator for the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The meetings included representatives from the Rockingham County Attorney’s Office, animal control officers, law enforcement and others

Sprowl, who was involved in the case involving 43 fighting pit bulls seized from the Newton home of Christopher DeVito, said this past week the case illustrated the need to strengthen the state’s animal cruelty laws.

"When I started working here as the animal cruelty investigator, I thought a lot of laws for the state of New Hampshire were very lax," Sprowl said.

DeVito was convicted of training dogs to participate in illegal dog fighting and sentenced to two to five years in state prison. Police found a blood-stained fighting pit, dog treadmills and steroids in a clandestine building behind his plush Colonial home.

The sentence was heralded as a precedent-setting one, as DeVito was the first person sent to state prison for animal cruelty.

Sprowl believes illegal dog fighting is still taking place in the state, but has gone more underground since the DeVito case.

"I’m still looking at a few areas that are out there ... receiving complaints of animals that are being raised like they’re fighting dogs, so we’re keeping our eyes open," Sprowl said. "(The DeVito case) may have made it go further underground. It’s still happening; you hear about it less often now because of the DeVito case."

In some cases, Sprowl has seen people who were under observation for possible dog fighting pack up and move from the state in the wake of the DeVito case.

While there haven’t been any recent arrests for cockfighting, Sprowl believes it is taking place.

"There is some. It’s just like the dog fighting, it’s underground, it’s hard to get into it," he said. "It is out there."

With the addition of breeding in the state statutes, those people who might be fighting their dogs in other states can still be charged with a criminal offense in New Hampshire.

"If you get people who are breeding them in this state and taking them out of state to Connecticut or New York to fight them, you’ve got no crime in this state," Sprowl said. "By changing this to breeding fighting dogs, then you actually have a good case against them."

Rockingham County Attorney Jim Reams, who prosecuted the DeVito case, agreed.

"It would have been another option, another theory of prosecution," Reams said, adding in the DeVito case it might have resulted in an additional charge.

Although, Reams added, prosecutors would tend to pick either breeding or training to pursue, not both theories.

"It just gives us many more options, depending on the evidence that was available to put together on the case," Reams said.

The passage of the tougher law illustrates the feelings the DeVito case evoked in the public regarding animal fighting, he said.

"I think it reflects society’s revulsion that this type of thing occurs," he said.

The new law has drawn the attention of the Humane Society of the United States and its New England regional office, which was involved in assisting in the DeVito case.

"Gov. Benson and the New Hampshire Legislature are to be commended for enacting a law that will strongly assist law enforcement agents in New Hampshire in clamping down on the barbaric business of animal fighting," said Joanne Bourbeau, the New England regional director for the HSUS.

Dogs or birds forced to fight are often drugged to make them more aggressive, according to Bourbeau, and will fight to the death.

"Cockfighters strap birds’ legs with razor-sharp knives called ‘slashers’ or 3-inch long ice pick gaffs to make the fights more violent," a press release from Bourbeau states. "The enactment of the New Hampshire law dovetails with a federal ban on the interstate shipping and export of animals for fighting purposes that went into effect last month."

To report suspected animal fighting, contact your local police or the NHSPCA at 772-2921.

Source: Portsmouth Hearald and Seacoast Online

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Unleashing secret world of dogfighting

By Lara Bricker
lbricker@seacoastonline.com

Authorities believe the closely guarded world of illegal pit bull fighting is still present in southern New Hampshire, and say the arrest of a New York man who allegedly published an underground dogfighting magazine could lead to local arrests.

These new suspicions come almost two years after police busted a major pit bull-fighting operation in an upscale Newton, N.H., neighborhood run by Christopher DeVito. Although DeVito is in state prison and those dogs have been euthanized, humane organizations say the blood sport continues.

They hope the arrest of James "Jay" Fricchione, of Westtown, N.Y., who was arrested on numerous charges related to illegal dogfighting in April 2003, will put a further dent in the illegal sport. Police say Fricchione was the publisher of the Sporting Dog Journal, an underground dogfighting magazine, and they reportedly seized records relating to the magazine when executing a search warrant at his home.

Dogfighting magazines are so shrouded in secrecy that people cannot get a subscription unless an existing subscriber writes a letter of recommendation to the magazine’s publisher, Scott Giacoppo, an investigator with the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said previously.

The Fricchione bust is significant not only because authorities arrested an alleged major player in the world of dogfighting, but they confiscated records from his magazine.

"We are looking into it. We know these guys work across state lines, so there is potential (for New Hampshire arrests)," said Joanne Bourbeau, the director of the New England office of the Humane Society of the United States. "I don’t think anybody really understands what the repercussions are going to be down the line."

Fricchione is not expected to go to trial in Orange County New York until January 2004, according to Assistant Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler.

Fricchione is currently free from police custody after posting a $25,000 bond, Hoovler said. He is officially charged with 14 counts of dogfighting - which is a felony in New York - three counts of aggravated animal cruelty, 13 counts of animal cruelty and one count of tampering with physical evidence. The last charge was brought because Fricchione allegedly stole two of the seized pit bulls from a humane society shelter.

While other law-enforcement agencies could request some of the seized record information at this time, it will not be available to humane organizations until after Fricchione goes to trial.

Still, Hoovler said Fricchione’s arrest has already had a major effect on the dogfighting underworld.

"He’s a kingpin," Hoovler said, adding the dogfighting community has taken notice. "To them, I think, the world has come to a screeching halt."

The time frame for getting the information from New York authorities is frustrating for local animal welfare investigators, who fear alleged dog fighters could flee or go deeper underground.

"These people could be sitting on information that’s vital," said Steve Sprowl, the cruelty investigator for the N.H. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Dogfighting alive on Seacoast?

The thought of people crowded around a makeshift plywood ring placing illegal bets as two pit bulls fight until they are too bloodied and battered to continue seemed incomprehensible before the case of Christopher DeVito.

When DeVito was arrested in January 2002 for allegedly running a clandestine pit bull-fighting operation behind his plush suburban home, it was a wake-up call to the public that dogfighting was alive and thriving in the area, Sprowl said.

"It all goes back to the DeVito case," he said. "I think it opened people’s eyes that it can actually be taking place in the state of New Hampshire, and we care enough that we want to do something about it."

Since DeVito was sent to prison for two to five years in the fall of 2002, there have been no arrests for dogfighting on the Seacoast. But animal welfare workers say they have information that leads them to believe the cruel sport is still taking place.

"There are open investigations right now in regards to dogfighting in the Seacoast," Sprowl said, declining to elaborate due to the ongoing nature of the cases.

Bourbeau, who is in contact with authorities and animal welfare workers across New England, said she has also received reports about secret pit bull fighting.

"I definitely have heard of other cases popping up," she said. "It’s not over. DeVito was not an anomaly; he’s definitely one of many out there."

Bourbeau has heard from shelters and veterinarians about dogs being brought in that appear to have been in fights.

"They’re seeing the animals coming through their doors that are victims of animal fighting," Bourbeau said, adding it’s hard to prove. "New Englanders, the general public, have a false sense of security in thinking animal fighting doesn’t take place. Because there are so many rural areas here in New England, it’s really easy for animal fighters to do their business without being detected, which makes New England a perfect place for them to be."

Task force work

The DeVito case didn’t just serve as a wake-up call to the public, but reaffirmed the suspicions of humane organizations and law enforcement about the existence of pit bull and other animal fighting. Two task forces have been formed in the wake of the DeVito case, and are both meeting actively to make a dent in the deadly blood sport.

The Humane Society of the United States formed the New England Animal Fighting Task Force, and Sprowl helped formed the New Hampshire Coalition for the Elimination of Illegal Animal Fighting. Both groups are working closely following the Fricchione bust and would like to see the magazine records seized from his home.

The New Hampshire-based coalition, which is organized through the SPCA, has already been successful in helping pass a new law in the state that will make it a felony to breed dogs, birds or another animals for fighting.

Senate Bill 79 added a prohibition to RSA 644:8-a for intentionally breeding animals for fighting and made cockfighting a felony-level offense. Cock fighting was only a misdemeanor offense, prosecuted at the district court level, before the amendment to RSA 644:8-a.

The New Hampshire group has recently seen a surge in interest from its coalition members, Sprowl said. It is preparing to launch a Web site that will be hosted through the existing NHSPCA site. He attributes the renewed determination from coalition members to the DeVito and Fricchione cases.

After passing legislation relating to the animal fighting, the group is now turning toward the source of the dogs used in fights - breeders and puppy mills.

The widely publicized case of a Bedford couple who were allegedly importing bulldog and mastiff puppies from Russia, then selling them over the Internet, is evidence of the problem, he said. While state legislation might relate to health certificates and oversight for dogs being brought into the state, puppies that are imported to this country must adhere to federal laws.

The United States does not require health certificates for dogs entering the country. However, dogs must be vaccinated against rabies 30 days before entering the country, except puppies younger than 3 months old. All of the puppies seized from the Bedford couple were about two months old or younger, meaning they would not have been required to have the rabies certificates to enter the country.

The New England Animal Fighting Task Force is also in the process of educating the public, and police, about what constitutes suspected animal fighting. Police from across New England have taken part in workshops offered through the task force to become better educated about how to investigate and identify potential dogfighting.

The task force is also attempting to dispel some misconceptions about dogfighting. It says people often suspect animal fighting just because a dog is a pit bull.

"Some people think if their neighbors have two to four pit bulls, they’re fighting them," Bourbeau said. "Just because someone has a number of pit bulls does not make them an animal fighter. There are definitely some things people should be looking for."

Some possible signs of dogfighting include:

• lBars and bite sticks or varying lengths that are used to pry open the dog’s jaws;
• lChains, ropes or spring poles hanging from beams or trees;
• lSurgical needles, steroids and saline solution;
• lDogs with facial scars;
• lDogs with cut ears, which is done so they won’t have to worry about them being bitten off;
• Treadmills for dogs;

"We’re hoping as a coalition we can be a resource for agencies that have never done an animal-fighting investigation. I think our job is mostly going to be education and training, and giving everybody the ability to recognize dogfighting and report it," Bourbeau said. "They’ll be our eyes and ears out there in the community."

If you suspect dogfighting

Contact your local police or animal shelter. Locally, contact Steve Sprowl at the NHSPCA at 772-2921 or, in Exeter, Police Department Animal Control Officer Neal Jones at 772-1212.

Source: Portsmouth Hearald and Seacoast Online