In San Juan, Puerto Rico, Antonio Casillas Montero, owner of Stone City Kennels, has been sentence to seven years in prison for participating in more than 150 dog fights. The pit bull dog type breeder sold his dogs for fighting in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, the Dominican Republic and the United States for thousands of dollars.
According to United States Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Casillas violated the Animal Welfare Act and used dogs he possessed for animal fighting, stated Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico W. Stephen Muldrow.
Casillas had owned and operated the Stone City Kennels for more than 35 years. During a search of his property, officers seized several dogs, including many that had been suffering from open wounds, fungus, lameness and jaw clamping.
Evidence presented stated Casillas employed veterinarians in Puerto Rico to obtain health certificates in order to send dogs to be trained and then fight. Many of the fights lasted more than 90 minutes, and if the dogs lost and they were injured from fighting, he would let them suffer and die. The government showed a video of one of Casillas’ dogs dying from its injuries while Casillas yelled at the dog for losing.
Commonly the dogs were injected with steroids, and evidence indicated Casillas was known as the “Caribbean legend” of dog fighting.
Dogfighting is a violation of federal law, and animal fighting is a blatant act of cruelty to animals and cannot be tolerated.
This sentence is a strong message of a firm stance against animal cruelty, we must work together to create more humane and compassionate societies.
HSI San Juan Special Agent
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