A Milwaukee man faces multiple felonies accusing him of training dogs at a north side home to fight for sport.
Six dogs, some of them injured and emaciated, were removed from a home on the 3300 block of North Sixth Street. That’s where officials say Jeffrey Legend Thompson, 22, of Milwaukee, trafficked “switches” for handguns and also trained animals for dog fighting, according to a Jan. 8 criminal complaint.
Switches are devices that can be attached to semi-automatic handguns to convert them into fully automatic machine guns.
Members of the police department’s Special Investigations Division had been monitoring Thompson since October.
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Prosecutors believe the dogs were subjected to rigorous training to become fighters
The team executed a search warrant at the home on Jan. 3 and found animals in what Assistant Milwaukee County District Attorney Amy Spanczak described in the complaint as various stages of neglect.
One dog was in a cage near multiple piles of fecal matter and an empty plastic bucket that is believed to be used for water. Another dog, found in a separate cage, “appeared emaciated with skull bones, hip and rib bones to be prominently protruding due to lack of nourishment.”
A third dog “appeared to have scarring on his face and forearms and was visibly shaking from the cold weather,” Spanczak wrote in the complaint.
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In another cage was a dog that was older and underweight. A different dog had scarring on its face and forearms, and was “visibly shaking from the cold weather,” the complaint reads.
A small, black pit bull puppy was found in yet another cage, with empty food and water bowls.
The complaint also described a set of wooden beams on the property attached to a tree.
“Tied to the end of the wooden beam was a black and blue rope that was hanging about a foot off the ground. This rope was observed on Thompson’s Instagram page with a brown dog biting the end and hanging. This technique is used to train dogs to strengthen their jaw muscles and bite for fighting,” the complaint reads.
The suspect was caught after a high-speed chase
Investigators spotted Thompson in a Nissan Rogue near 34th and Villard streets that same day and pulled it over. The complaint said the vehicle fled from the traffic stop and led police on a 3-mile chase through residential streets at speeds of 98 mph.
The vehicle ran a stop sign near Silver Spring Drive and slammed into another vehicle, the complaint said. Thompson was apprehended after a short foot pursuit, the document says.
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What is the law in Wisconsin regarding dog fighting?
Wisconsin Statute 951.08 makes it illegal to “intentionally instigate, promote, aid or abet” anyone from who profits from or a fight between animals or operating a place for that purpose.
That includes cockfighting, dog fighting and even bullfighting. The law also outlaws owning or keeping any animal with the intent of training them to become fighters.
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What is next for Jeffrey Legend Thompson?
Thompson is charged with second-degree reckless endangering safety, fleeing/eluding an officer with bodily harm or property damage and instigation of animal fighting, all felonies. He also is charged with misdemeanor counts of mistreating animals and carrying a concealed weapon.
Thompson was booked into Milwaukee County Jail on Jan. 4, and remained in custody late Friday afternoon.
He is expected to appear in court on Tuesday for a preliminary hearing.
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