Man accused of dogfighting is now facing a new charge
A man accused of illegal dogfighting and aggravated animal cruelty is scheduled to face a Miller County jury later this month.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell amended the charges Wednesday pending against Christopher Tremayne Harper, 27, to include a habitual offender allegation because of a prior felony conviction. Harper’s 2013 conviction for delivery of a controlled substance in Lafayette County, Ark ., allows for enhance - ment of the maximum punishment Harper faces on each of the Miller County charges from six to 12 years in prison.
Animal control officers received a report about 1
p.m. Jan. 13, 2017, from Miller County dispatchers regarding people fighting dogs on East 11th Street, according to a probable cause affidavit. Officers made contact with two men at East 11th and Louisiana streets. One of the men was in possession of a red brindle pit bull with “ears cut back all the way to its head.”
Cutting the ears off of a dog is a practice among dogfighting owners who don’t want other dogs to latch onto an ear during a fight. The dog’s owner, who allegedly identified himself as Jeremy Brooks but was later identified as Harper, claimed he bought the canine with ears already removed. The dog yelped when touched on the side of the face, and the owner was given until Jan. 17, 2017, to take the dog to a vet for treatment.
Less than an hour later, officers were dispatched to a home in the 2600 block of East 10th regarding dogfighting. Officers observed a large bottle of hydrogen peroxide in the rafters beneath the home’s porch canopy, “which is consistent with people who regularly fight dogs,” the affidavit states.
A woman allegedly approached the officers and began shouting at them and using profanity. The woman allegedly told investigators the dogs belong to her son, Jaquavian Johnson.
Johnson allegedly denied his dogs had been fighting but a white pit bull in his backyard had “bloody punctures on his abdomen, side, back and chest as well as a swollen right cheek and gum on his right muzzle,” the affidavit states. According to the affidavit, the dog with the cut ears had not been taken for treatment as of Feb. 1, 2017.
The dogs were seized and Harper and Johnson were arrested. Johnson pleaded guilty last year to unlawful dogfighting. As part of a plea bargain, Johnson was ordered to serve a fiveyear term of probation and agreed to forfeit his ownership of any of the abused canines. He was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and more than $5,000 in restitution to the Animal Care and Adoption Center for boarding and veterinary expenses. He is prohibited from owning an animal while on probation.
Harper’s case is scheduled for jury selection Feb. 26 before Circuit Judge Carlton Jones.