Fighting (dog)
Date 03-28-2011
County Pinellas
Suspect Michael Lang
Address 11745 126th Terrace N., Seminole, FL 33778
Animals seized 5
Animal type Pit bull dogs
Pinellas County narcotics investigators said they went to a home Monday night where they believed a 39-year-old man was selling crack cocaine and found the suspect might also be involved in dogfighting.
Five pit bulls were discovered in separate cages without water in the house at 11745 126th Terrace N., according to sheriff's office records. The cages hadn't been cleaned of the dogs' feces.
Michael Lang was charged with five counts of animal cruelty, three counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, one count of armed trafficking in crack cocaine and one count of possession of a structure for the purpose of trafficking in cocaine.
He was being held at the Pinellas County Jail with bail set at $172,500.
In addition to the dogs, investigators found 50 grams of crack cocaine and three firearms: a Smith & Wesson 9 mm handgun, a Lorcin 9 mm handgun and a Taurus .45-caliber handgun that had been reported stolen, according to jail records.
Lang admitted using the guns for protection, according to records. He was charged as a felon because he was convicted in 2001 of felony driving with a suspended or revoked license.
Brent Bardell, an officer with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said authorities found a treadmill used to train the dogs; a scale, presumably to weigh them before a contest; and a pen in which they would fight.
"I'm not 100 percent sure they were fighting the animals here … but there is a lot of paraphernalia used in dogfighting," Bardell said.
Bardell said one of the dogs, which is a couple of years old, had fresh wounds and old scars, so the canine could have been involved in fighting for some time.
Sheriff's spokeswoman Cecilia Barreda said detectives initially served a search warrant at Lang's home about 10 p.m. that touched on allegations of drug dealing. It was then they found the dogs.
The animals were turned over to the SPCA, while detectives worked to acquire a second search warrant, which they executed today. The purpose of the second search warrant was to confiscate equipment related to the training of the dogs for fight.
