OMAHA, Neb.—Four pit bull dogs have been seized from the home of a Tecumseh man charged in a multistate dogfighting raid. Two of the dogs bear scars from fighting, an official with the Nebraska Humane Society said Friday.
The dogs were seized Thursday night at the home of 28-year-old Julio Reyes.
He is among 26 people accused by U.S. attorneys in several states of cruelties after federal, state and local authorities conducted raids in Missouri, Illinois, Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa and Mississippi this week.
Reyes was part of a group of seven indicted in western Missouri this week and accused of betting thousands of dollars on at least three fights earlier this year. He faces one count of conspiring to defraud the United States and four counts of transporting animals for fighting ventures, according to his indictment that was unsealed this week.
Authorities say their search of Reyes’ home also turned up animal-fighting paraphernalia.
The four dogs were taken to the Nebraska Humane Society in Omaha, about 60 miles north of Tecumseh, where they were examined Friday.
“There’s indications of dogfighting scars on two of the dogs,” said Mark Langan, the society’s vice president of field operations. He said the scars were not fresh.
The society will hold the dogs at its shelter as long as Reyes’ case is open. It’s unknown what might happen to them once it closes, he said.
Federal court documents charging Reyes allege the dogfights he was involved in took place at Bottcher’s farm in Gilman City in northwestern Missouri.
Prosecutors say some dogs involved in the fights were burned, shot or thrown in a river and others did not receive proper care for their wounds.
Efforts to reach Reyes Friday were unsuccessful because there is no active phone number listed for him in Tecumseh, and federal court documents do not show an attorney assigned to represent Reyes.
It remains unclear if Reyes will face state charges, too. Johnson County Attorney Julie Smith Hogancamp said she hasn’t decided if she will charge Reyes for violating state dogfighting laws.
“Our primary concern today was for the welfare of the dogs,” she said in a news release.
The six-state raid gathered up more than 400 dogs, including some about to give birth to puppies.
The Humane Society of Missouri said it is housing most of them at its emergency shelter in St. Louis. Groups in Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Iowa are taking care of another 75 to 100 dogs, the Missouri group said.
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