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Press Release

Final Defendant in Multi-State Dog Fighting, Drug Conspiracy Case Pleads Guilty

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Georgia

MACON, Ga. – The 13th and final defendant involved in a multi-state dog fighting and drug distribution conspiracy based out of Middle Georgia pleaded guilty to his crimes on Friday. 

Armard Davis aka “Black Jack,” 43, of Fort Valley, Georgia, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to participate in an animal fighting venture before U.S. District Judge Tilman E. “Tripp” Self III on April 28. Davis faces a mandatory minimum of five years to a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison and a $5,000,000 fine for the drug conspiracy charge and a maximum sentence of five years and a $250,000 fine for the animal fighting conspiracy charge. Sentencing is scheduled for July 10. 

“Shutting down this criminal organization, which was engaged in drug distribution and barbaric dog fighting, is the direct result of a lengthy and coordinated investigation involving many law enforcement agencies at the local, state and federal level,” said U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary. “Their combined efforts have made our communities safer.” 

According to court documents, law enforcement investigated a criminal organization involved in both cocaine distribution and organized dog fighting based out of Roberta, Georgia, which extended into North Georgia, Florida and Alabama from May 2019 until February 2020. Davis was regularly communicating about all elements of dog fighting including its planning, scheduling and attending dog fights; the weight of dogs engaged in fights; the amount of money bet on dog fights, as well as sponsoring dogs in fights; and selling, breeding, training and transporting dogs for the purpose of fights. On Feb. 24, 2020, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Davis’s property at 407 Vienna Street in Fort Valley, Georgia, where agents found nine pit-bull type dogs. Many of the dogs had scarring and visible injuries such as broken legs and open bleeding wounds, all consistent with dog fighting. Agents also seized a hanging scale, medical supplies consistent with dog fighting and miscellaneous pedigrees. For more information about this case, please visit: https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdga/pr/12th-defendant-sentenced-dog-fighting-drug-distribution-ring. 

On Jan. 4, 2021, DEA agents learned that a drug transaction would be taking place between Davis and another person, at the direction of Antoine Riley, 46, of Butler, Georgia, a convicted defendant in a separate case who will be sentenced on May 3. The next day, agents observed Davis sell methamphetamine. Under surveillance, Davis was pulled over in Peach County, Georgia, and was arrested in possession of approximately 468 grams of suspected methamphetamine and $3,890 in cash. For information about the Riley case, please visit: https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdga/pr/nine-federally-charged-arrested-middle-ga-drug-trafficking-investigation.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

The dog-fighting and drug conspiracy case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture - Office of the Inspector General, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office, the Houston County Sheriff’s Office, the Merriweather County Sheriff’s Office, the Peach County Sheriff’s Office, the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office, the Webster County Sheriff’s Office, the Byron Police Department and the Fort Valley Police Department. Deputy Criminal Chief Will Keyes with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia and Senior Trial Attorney Banu Rangarajan with the Department of Justice’s Environmental Crimes Section prosecuted the case.

The methamphetamine distribution case was investigated by the DEA, FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the United States Marshals Service, the Monroe County Sherriff’s Office, the Bibb County Sherriff’s Office and the Warner Robins Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Kalim is prosecuting the case.

Updated February 23, 2024

Topics
Animal Welfare
Drug Trafficking