WOODBINE, Ga.-- Camden County sheriff's deputies confiscated on Tuesday a dozen dogs allegedly being used in part of a dog-fighting operation behind a home.
William Terrell of the Camden County Sheriff's Office told Action News the dogs were being housed to fight in a wooded area behind the home of Lola Singleton on Highway 17.
"This is the first case I had ever seen where it looked like a dog farm. You know where they were being raised just for that," Terrell said.
Lola Singleton told Action News, "They don't fight. We don't fight dogs. I go back there, I feed the dogs. I water the dogs and everything."
According to investigators evidence found at the home seems to indicate people were even gambling on dog fighting.
"We found a bunch of circumstantial evidence. Some medicine, some blood on the walls," said Terrell.
Singleton says she co-owns the dogs with her godson, Domonique Hargrave, 32, of Kingsland.
"I helped him raise those dogs since they were puppies," said Singleton, "They assume because you got dog pits that everybody's pits are fighting pits. They're not fighting pits."
Investigators obtained a warrant to search the property after deputies say they noticed evidence of dog fighting on the property when they responded to that address on Jan. 1 for a meth lab arrest.
Terrell told Action News, "I think they suspected we had been onto them. They had modified things a little bit. But there was still an abundance of circumstantial evidence."
The Camden County Humane Society could not accommodate all 12 dogs confiscated from the home, so the animals were sent to the Atlanta Humane Society.
Deputies have not arrested anyone yet, but say charges are pending further investigation.
Dog fighting is a felony in Georgia. Each count is punishable by one to five years in prison. Because of the dozen dogs involved in this case, charges may include 12 felony counts of dog fighting.
