Take Action!Please send a polite letter on ALDF's website in care of Assistant State Attorney Geoff Fleck, encouraging Judge Rosier to hand down aggressive and meaningful sentences which clearly reflect the Court’s recognition of the cruel violence and attendant criminal activities which dogfighting inflicts on communities.
Dear Betsy,
After seizing 13 allegedly abused dogs in April 2010, Baker County, Florida police charged Cletus Gaskins and Omar Aldridge with animal cruelty and dogfighting. Reportedly running away from the officers on the scene and leaving his four-year-old son behind in the process, Aldridge was also charged with child neglect.
Dogs raised for fighting are forced to live desperately, repeatedly suffering ruthless and gruesome abuses as well as systematic neglect. Tragically, it is not unusual for children to be victimized by this culture as well -- either taken to fighting events by the very adults they should be able to count on to shield them from harm, or chronically exposed to squalid and dangerous living conditions.
On March 8, 2011,
Gaskins and Aldridge entered no contest pleas to charges of both cruelty to animals and fighting or baiting animals -- both felonies under Florida law. The prosecution will present its sentencing recommendations to Judge Rosier at a hearing on Wednesday, April 27, 2011 at 2:00 p.m.
Take Action!Please send a polite letter on ALDF's website in care of Assistant State Attorney Geoff Fleck, encouraging Judge Rosier to hand down aggressive and meaningful sentences which clearly reflect the Court’s recognition of the cruel violence and attendant criminal activities which dogfighting inflicts on communities.
Local residents are encouraged to support the prosecution by attending the court proceedings. The sentencing hearing is currently scheduled for Wednesday, April 27, 2011 at 2:00 p.m.
Court information can be found on ALDF's website.
Thank you for speaking out against dogfighting!
For the animals,
Stephen Wells
Executive Director
Animal Legal Defense Fund
