6655 Lauderdale County Road 41 – The site of the dog rescue.
FLORENCE – Two Lauderdale county men are out on bond today after being arrested on multiple counts of keeping “fighting dogs” in an inhumane condition. Dereus Lamar Qualls and Quinton Lashawn Butler both face multiple charges after Lauderdale County Sheriff’s detectives discovered 13 pit bulls, chained in conditions they say weren’t suitable for habitation. The arrests took place at their residence at 6655 County Road 41 in Lauderdale County.
Some of the collars that had chains attached. Rescuers unhooked these from the emaciated dogs before transporting them to the animal shelter.
Lauderdale County Sheriff’s detectives describe finding these dogs with heavy chains around their necks. According to Lauderdale County Animal Control official Dwayne Oliver on the TACC Scale, (Tufts Animal Care and Condition) used for assessing the body condition of animals, the dogs have been rated between a 4.5 and 5; meaning the animals were somewhere between very underweight and emaciated.
Other agencies/organizations that assisted the Sheriff’s Office were The Human Society and Norred and Associates, a corporate security and investigations firm based out of Atlanta.
Norred and Associates was brought in to the case because of their particular expertise in the area of investigating pit bull-related criminal activity.
Their website says this about the company and it’s founder: “Norred & Associates is the largest and oldest locally owned corporate security and investigative firm in Atlanta, Georgia. For the past four years, Greg Norred, the founder and CEO of Norred & Associates, has been donating the firm’s time and expertise and his own money to rescuing dogs.
“I’m an animal lover. I’ve always been an animal lover. And in the wake of the Michael Vick case, I always thought there might be something I could do about animal cruelty, and with the type of business that I’m in and the resources that I have, it seems like dogfighting is the best vehicle that I can use to do something about animal cruelty.”
So far our team has volunteered for at least 31 raids. We’ve helped put 48 people behind bars and saved almost 850 dogs. We do it all for the dogs.”
Chris Panpelis, a representative from Norred and Associates, said that there is no known frame of time for knowing how long the animals have been on the property. Investigator Richard Richey however believes the dogs may have been on the property for at least 7 years.
Both men were arrested, Qualls faces two counts of possession of fighting dogs while Butler faces 11 counts. Both men have been released from jail on bond.
2 comments
Would love for them to be put in with Lions and be their dinner!
Quinton is ny daughter’s father and while he may be guilt.of this and treated these animals less that poorly, he doesn’t treat our daughter poorly. He looks like a monster to most people now but quinton is a good father and did what he had to do to support his family. That place is crawling with drugs and prostitution why are those ppl free? His actions were horrible and should definitely go punished but not to the extent.
where his two daughters have to visit this said n prison.