A Georgia man has been sentenced to almost 500 years in prison after authorities rescued more than 100 malnourished pit bulls tied to trees and metal posts in his backyard in a dogfighting ring bust.
Vincent Lemark Burrell, 57, was sentenced to 475 years last week, more than two years after authorities raided his Dallas, Ga., property and discovered the disturbing scene.
“Everywhere you looked, you couldn’t take a step in any one direction without there being another pit bull staked out on a chain,” Paulding County Assistant District Attorney K.C. Pagnotta said, adding it is believed to be the longest such sentence in U.S. history for this crime.
Assistant District Attorney K.C. Pagnotta poses with Baby Shark, one of the victims of the dogfighting ring.
Paulding District Attorney’s Office’s Post / Facebook
“And the purpose of doing that is dog fighting,” the prosecutor continued. “They will put the pit bull out on a chain, and they space each dog out enough that they can see each other. They can agitate each other, but they can’t actually get to one another. And it’s part of the building of aggression that they used to train fighting dogs.”
Burrell was found guilty of 103 counts, including 93 counts of dogfighting and 10 counts of cruelty to animals, following a four-day trial, the Paulding District Attorney’s Office announced on Jan. 30.
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The scene at Burrell’s home came to light in November 2022, when an Amazon delivery driver saw multiple dogs tied up while dropping off a package.
Police found 107 dogs, who were underweight or very underweight, without access to food or water. The canines were wearing thick collars attached to heavy logging chains that were secured to trees and metal stakes in the ground.
Dog collars seized at Vincent Lemark Burrell’s Georgia home.
Paulding Country Sheriff
Venturing inside the house, police found an equally horrific scene.
“Some of the dogs were housed in the basement of the home where the presence (along with the odor) of urine and feces was so strong, authorities had to wear protective equipment just to be able safely enter the home,” according to a press release from the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office. “Conditions where dogs were being housed, both inside and on the exterior of this property, were not fit for humans, much less dogs.”
During their search, officers also found gear and documents linking Burrell to a dogfighting operation. They found a breeding stand, a dog treadmill and a device called a break stick, used to force open a dog’s mouth during a fight. There was a live chicken that was used to tempt the dogs, a veterinary kit to treat dogs hurt in a fight and papers linking Burrell to known dogfighters.
On the same day as the search, an examination of some of the dogs by a veterinarian confirmed the dogs had scarring patterns consistent with dogfighting and rashes around their necks, and several were missing teeth, suggesting they had been forcibly removed from their mouths.
“Let this be a clear message that Paulding County will not accept or condone the inhumane treatment of animals — especially the violence and abuse associated with dog fighting,” Pagnotta said.
“Justice was served today for the voiceless. This type of activity will not be tolerated in Paulding County,” Sheriff Ashley Henson said.
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