GRAY — A Middle Georgia man was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison on dogfighting, drug-distribution and gun-possession charges.
Dan Thomas Cleveland Jr., 45, pleaded guilty to the crimes on the eve of his trial, which was set to begin in Jones County Superior Court.
In May of last year, Cleveland was living on Macon’s northeast side near the Jones-Bibb county border when narcotics investigators searched his house as part of a drug probe.
Cops found vacuum-sealed, distribution-amounts of marijuana, firearms, injured pit bulls and dogfighting equipment that included a pair of treadmills, weighted vests and heavy chains that prosecutors said were used to condition the animals for fighting.
“These dogs were not kept as pets. They were kept for sport,” Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit prosecutor Cara Fiore told Judge Terry N. Massey during a sentencing hearing on Wednesday. “Dogfighting is a crime because it is the torture of animals for the entertainment and the profit of their owner.”
Had Cleveland been found guilty at trial, he faced a maximum of 20 years behind bars.
Credit: Joe Kovac Jr.
Credit: Joe Kovac Jr.
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