Help Law Enforcement Change Organized Crime Laws

Because of my job, I try and take a very active role in helping law enforcement in any way I can. I have received some requests to bring an issue to the spotlight and ask readers to help out in changing some of our federal laws. We need for everyone to write your Congressmen.

The issue is illegal dog fighting. I spoke with the investigators working a huge Harris County, Texas case and it was fascinating to learn about the number of other criminal activities revolving around illegal dog fighting. They said that they witnessed everything from drugs, stolen property, illegal firearms, Identity theft, credit card fraud, you name the offense.

The focus of the investigation was the dog fighting itself. The group was so brutal, the investigators had to break it up when they did so the 187 dogs would not freeze to death in the conditions they were in. The investigators explained they could have gone on for months retrieving intelligence on other crimes, but the brutality just got to be too much. 55 people were indicted.

Dog fighting is tied into many organized crime groups. The investigators wanted me to send out a plea to all to help get our laws changed to make dog fighting an organized crime under federal law.

The offenders in this case would have been more severely punished had they been able prosecute them with the organized crime statues. Unfortunately, it is my understanding that all of the dogs had to be euthanized and the offenders face a mere 2 years in jail.

Dog fighting is a huge underground network of criminals. It is organized crime. The investigators explained that any time they were traveling, they would just call their contacts here in Harris County. The contacts would arrange for the investigator to attend a fight wherever he was going to be traveling. It is a widespread issue which obviously attracts the criminals we are all looking for.

I cannot mention the undercover agents names working this case, but they should be commended for all of their hard work and the ability to work such a terrible case. Our hats are off to you and the Harris County District Attorney's Office!

Please contact your Congressmen and ask for the federal laws to be changed. Even if the animal cruelty element of this story does not touch you, this would have been an easy way to get some really bad people off of the streets for a long time had the laws been on our side.

This link provides a list of contact information for the Senate and House: http://usgovinfo.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/congress/conemail.txt

Feel free to contact me if you need a form letter (dsellens@tcbconsultingonline.com).