Brooklyn Pair Pleads Guilty To Dog Fighting In Far Rockaway

FAR ROCKAWAY, QUEENS -- A Brooklyn pair has pleaded guilty to dog fighting charges after cops found four battered pit bulls huddled in cages without food or water in a Far Rockaway garage one of them rented.

Brownsville residents Davoughn Fitts, 29, and Cherise Mickens, 28, must register as animal abusers after Mickens' dogs were found underweight and infected with teeth fractures, torn ears, bruises, scratches and bite scars all over their faces and bodies, said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

Fitts was sentenced to nine months in jail and Mickens to three months of probation for the crimes earlier this month.

"Dog fighting is a blood sport," Brown said. "It is animal cruelty in its most brutal form."

Investigators found the battered dogs in the garage of a Beach 65 Street house rented by Mickens during a raid on Dec. 28, 2016, police said.

But it wasn't just the pit bulls' injuries that confirmed cops' suspicion of dog fighting. The raid also yielded two bloodied "break sticks," commonly stuck into a dog's molar to break their bite grip, and a "slat mill," a dog-powered treadmill often used to train fighting animals.

All four pit bulls were taken into custody by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, cared for at an ASPCA hospital. A licensed veteran determined each had extensive skin scars from old bite wounds, according to court records.

"No animal should be treated in such a vile manner," Brown said.

Fitts and Mickens pleaded guilty to an agriculture and markets law related to owning, possessing and keeping a dog with the intent to engage in animal fighting. In addition to their respective prison and probation sentences, both will be banned from owning pets for five years.

Lead photo via Shutterstock