Pinal County rescues 14 more dogs, finds four dead in suspected dog-fighting case

The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office released additional information Thursday revealing further instances of animal cruelty connected to last week’s arrest of a Maricopa man accused of operating a dog fighting operation in the Homestead community.

County officials found 14 live and four dead canines on Friday after receiving a tip that several more animals were in poor condition and had been tied out without food and water at a vacant property in the John Wayne RV Park on South John Wayne Parkway.

The breed of dogs involved was not included in the report, but seven animals Pinal County Animal Care and Control seized June 4 from the home of Damien Hartfield were pitbulls and pitbull mixes. Maricopa Police also arrested Hartfield later that night, and returned to search his home the following day (see “7 pitbulls seized in suspected dog-fighting operation”).

The search turned up a small cache of weapons including rifles, clips and at least one handgun. Police also removed evidence of possible drug activity in the home and a treadmill and several dog chains, believed to have been used to train dogs to fight.

At least one of the dogs that was taken into county custody was injured so severely that it had to be euthanized. The condition of the remaining six animals was not immediately available.

Although the training is believed to have taken place in Homestead, a PSCO report suggests that the actual dog fights most likely took place on the lot of an abandoned home in the RV park where the ailing and deceased dogs were found, along with “blood on the walls” of the residence.

More information will be published as it becomes available.

File photo