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Dogfight at City Night Spot Busted: 12 People Arrested in Allentown Club. Four Canines Rescued.

Posted on: Sunday, 7 May 2006, 12:05 CDT

By Spencer Soper, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.

May 7--Twelve people were arrested Saturday afternoon at a dogfight staged in the basement of an Allentown nightclub in the city's biggest animal cruelty crackdown in years, police said.

Responding on a tip, investigators found four dogs, two of them injured, in the basement of the Down Low Nite Club, 333 Hamilton St., between 2 and 3 p.m., Assistant Police Chief David Howells said.

"It's a clandestine type of operation," he said. "Fortunately, in this case, a concerned citizen called in and let us know about the situation."

About 20 police officers, the Lehigh County Humane Society and the city's Health Bureau and code enforcement division investigated the business, which was closed down by the city Saturday night. Orange stickers left on the doors by the code enforcement division say the building is "unsafe for use or human habitation."

Police taped off a half block of N. Race Street next to the nightclub. Howells said police got a search warrant for the building Saturday night. Two empty dog kennels sat on the sidewalk next to a side door.

Names of the suspects were not available. Howells said the people arrested were charged with felony counts of animal cruelty and animal fighting.

The Humane Society took the dogs, Howells said.

A city building inspector on the scene deferred questions to police. Howells said the building was shut down because it's a restaurant and inspectors found unsanitary conditions.

"They serve food there," Howells said. "There was blood everywhere, and dog hair, urine and feces."

Most dog-fighting arrests through the years have been low-key events with a handful of people in an alley or someone's yard, Howells said. For instance, three Allentown men were charged with animal cruelty in 1999 when authorities found them encouraging dogs to fight on the sidewalk on Seventh Street.

In 1998, two men were charged with animal cruelty for making their pit bulls fight at a home on Gordon Street. Neighbors told police they heard the men encouraging the dogs to fight, and police found one pit bull bleeding from its wounds.

"I'm not aware of an organized dogfight like this in a long time," Howells said. "We've had them in the past, but where a couple of people meet in the alley."

spencer.soper@mcall

610-820-6533

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.

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Source: The Morning Call, Allentown, Pennsylvania

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