More charges in dog-fighting case

DEXTER, Mo. -- Three men accused of running a dog-fighting ring now face more counts after their charges were amended this week.

Jamie Sifford of Stoddard County faces 18 charges of felony dogfighting, three counts of felony possession of a controlled substance and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. There is one charge for each dog determined to have been fought at some point. He could face a maximum sentence of 94 years in prison if found guilty of all charges and depending on whether the sentences would run consecutively or concurrently.

Curtis Pickering, 28, of South Fulton, Tenn., is now being charged with two counts of felony dog fighting. He faces a maximum of eight years in prison if convicted on all charges.

Jessey Short, 28, of Cape Girardeau and formerly of Dexter, now faces three charges of felony dog fighting. He faces a maximum of 12 years in prison if convicted on all charges.

Each of the three men will be arraigned before Judge Joe Z. Satterfield at 9 a.m. Thursday.

More than two dozen dogs were seized Oct. 20 by the Stoddard County Sheriff's Department at a farm near Dudley, Mo. Most of the dogs had either old wounds or fresh injuries of the type associated with dog fighting.

Kyle Held, statewide investigator for the Humane Society of Missouri, said Pickering's name "has popped up in several other dog fighting investigations. He's probably not as big as some that I know of, but he has been in the business for a while." Held would not elaborate.

Workers also found a burn pile with evidence of burnt syringes and medicine vials.

"Most of the vials appeared to be vaccination vials like he had been vaccinating his own dogs," Held said. "As far as I can tell by seeing it and by viewing the photographs we took of it, it doesn't seem to be anything that he wasn't supposed to be doing."

According to published reports, several journals were seized at the property giving details into the operation, but Held could not comment on the content.

"There was a lot of paperwork taken," he said. "We're still sifting through piles and piles of evidence."