Third man charged in suspected dog fighting operation in Floyd County

Bryant Steele, Rome News-Tribune business editor

June 16, 2009 11:36 am

— A third man has been charged in a suspected dog fighting operation. Kenyatta Kenyon Towers, 34, of 609 Hardy Ave. in Rome is in the Floyd County Jail without bond this morning, according to jail records. He was booked into the jail just before 10 p.m. Monday.
A criminal warrant for Towers’ arrest states that on May 28 investigators working for the Humane Society of the U.S., acting on a tip, began conducting surveillance at an Eden Circle address in Lindale. The investigators observed “13 pit bulls chained with heavy logging chains attached to car axles” driven into the ground.
The dogs “were tied away from each other, consistent with how fighting dogs are secured,” according to the warrant. The enclosure was in unsanitary condition, little if any water and no food was observed, and the dogs appeared to have scars and wounds consistent with dog fighting, according to the warrant.
Towers is charged with 26 misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals and one count of dog fighting, a felony. He also is being held on a probation violation.
Floyd County Animal Control seized pit bulls at the Eden Circle address on Thursday and is attempting to have them adopted by out-of-county rescue groups.
Dominique Ladell Porter, 26, of 514 Harper Ave., and Marcus Fredriek Beasley, 21, of 223 Pennington Ave., were charged with 15 counts of misdemeanor cruelty to animals after the seizure, according to jail records.