Nine Indicted For Dog Fighting Ring Operation In Union County

A Union County grand jury has returned indictments against nine men involved with a dog fighting ring in Elizabeth, according to the Union County Prosecutor‘s Office.

The men charged with two counts of dog-fighting offenses, both third-degree crimes listed under New Jersey’s animal cruelty statute, are:

• Shaquille Mars, 19, of Elizabeth
• Leon King, 20, of Elizabeth
• Rahman Johnson, 20, of Elizabeth
• Tamir Norville, 21, of Elizabeth
• George Parker, Jr., 22, of Elizabeth
• Larry Polanco, 28, of Elizabeth
• Algernon Norville, 36, of Elizabeth
• Nathaniel Thompson, 64, of Elizabeth
  
• Rashadik Johnson, 21, of Irvington
  

*Norville was charged with two additional third-degree dog-fighting offenses.

On the night of March 21, 2015, investigators arrived at a Magnolia Avenue home to find a total of 17 dogs, some obviously injured, kept in small, dirty steel or plastic cage.

Investigator‘s also found:

• A treadmill allegedly used to build up the dogs’ endurance levels in preparation for fights
• A dog fighting ring stained with blood
• Various collars, chains, and harnesses
• A pellet gun
• Marijuana
• And a stolen ATV

“The dogs recovered as a result of the operation were turned over to the custody of the SCPA, which placed them in three rehabilitative care centers elsewhere in the state,” according to the Union County Prosecutor‘s Office.

”The New Jersey statute criminalizing dog fighting was amended in 2013 in order to make involvement in such activity a third-degree criminal offense punishable by three to five years in state prison.”

The joint investigation was led by the Prosecutor’s Office’s Guns, Gangs, Drugs, and Violent Crimes Task Force, the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SCPA), the FBI’s Newark Division, the New Jersey State Police, and the Elizabeth Police Department.