Panama Metropolis, Fla. — Two Bay County males have pleaded responsible to federal costs linked to an organized canine preventing operation that spanned a number of years, with one additionally admitting to illegally possessing firearms.
Fredricus White, 38, and Cornelious Johnson, 41, each of Panama Metropolis, entered responsible pleas to conspiracy costs involving the possession and coaching of preventing canine in violation of the Animal Welfare Act. Along with the animal cruelty costs, White pleaded responsible to possessing firearms and ammunition as a convicted felon, in accordance with an announcement by U.S. Legal professional John P. Heekin for the Northern District of Florida.
Federal courtroom information present that between 2018 and February 2024, White and Johnson have been concerned in a legal conspiracy that included breeding and coaching canine for unlawful fights, playing on the outcomes, and working canine preventing compounds on rural properties within the Panama Metropolis space. The 2 have been beforehand arrested in Georgia in 2022 throughout an unlawful canine combat and later confronted federal costs stemming from that incident.
In February 2024, legislation enforcement executed federal arrest warrants and uncovered two properties in Bay County the place the boys continued to maintain and practice preventing canine. A search of White’s residence additionally turned up three firearms. As a beforehand convicted felon — with convictions relationship again to 2009 and 2012 — White was barred from proudly owning firearms beneath federal legislation.
“These defendants engaged in merciless and continued mistreatment of animals, however now they’ll discover themselves locked in a cell for his or her crimes,” stated U.S. Legal professional Heekin. “Animal cruelty enterprises like this one usually are not solely barbaric however usually tied to broader patterns of neighborhood violence. We is not going to tolerate this cruelty within the Northern District of Florida.”
The case was the results of a multi-agency investigation involving the Bay County Sheriff’s Workplace, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the U.S. Division of Agriculture’s Workplace of Inspector Common, and the U.S. Marshals Service.
The prosecution was led by Assistant U.S. Legal professional Meredith L. Steer, with assist from the Division of Justice’s Environmental and Pure Sources Division.
This case is a part of Operation Take Again America, a Division of Justice initiative aimed toward combating violent crime, dismantling legal enterprises, and defending communities from transnational legal organizations.
