New Jersey dogfighting suspects include Lobrio,  Low,  & Lower

Three generations of one lowlife family involved

MAURICE RIVER TOWNSHIP,  New Jersey––Members of three generations of an alleged dogfighting family who have variously used the names Lobrio,  Low  and Lower were taken into custody on April 3,  2024,  along with 103 pit bulls,  by a posse “including police from Ohio,  Connecticut,  and Washington D.C.,”  reported John Paul of WPVI television in Philadelphia.

“They were joined by federal agents,  the United States Department of Agriculture,  and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service,”  Paul added.

What was the U.S. military involvement?

The Defense Criminal Investigative Service is the criminal investigative arm of the Office of Inspector General,  U.S. Department of Defense.

Why military police were involved remained unclear more than a day later.

“The property was mostly fenced off.  Several large buildings,  trailers,  and an RV were also inspected by officers,”  Paul continued.

“Yellow ‘no trespassing’ signs that warned of video surveillance were posted all over the area as well.  Two vehicles were towed away from the property. Neighbors said the owner has been in trouble with the law in the past,”  Paul finished.

Left in limbo,  but not for long

Paul identified neither the suspects nor the cause for the bust,  leaving the curious in limbo.

Lynda Cohen,  founder of Breaking AC,  covering nearby Atlantic City,  on the morning of April 4,  2024 named suspects Bruce Gordon Low Jr.,  45;  Bryce Low,  20;   Terri Low,  67;  William McClinton (also identified as George McClinton),  68;  Coy Dickenson,  58;  Travis Garron,  37;  and Roosevelt Hart III,  29.

Tom Garner link

The ANIMALS 24-7 team soon identified the Lows as members of the family formerly known as Lobrio,  and identified Bruce Gordon Low Jr.,  using the name “Bruce Lobrio,”  as an associate of Tom Garner,  a North Carolina pit bull breeder since 1978,  who was convicted of dogfighting in 1994.

An April 12,  2000 raid by the sheriff’s office in Roanoke County,  Virginia, found 73 pit bulls chained to trees and old car axles on property owned by Tom Garner,  and another 19 pit bulls on neighboring land belonging to alleged dogfighting trainer Kyle Arthur Pearce.

Evidence found during the Pearce bust led U.S. federal agents to the home of his former housemate,  Philip William Reynolds,  publisher of the underground American Gamedog Times magazine plus an accompanying web site.

Garner,  however,  was only charged with not licensing the pit bulls on his property.  Two pit bulls were held as evidence.  The rest remained on chains.

Garner kept 71 of the pit bulls,  after paying $2,026 in fines.

Low & Lower

Terri Ann Low has also used the name “Terri Ann Lower” on documents naming her as owner of the KISDIR Group,  a construction firm headquartered at 5308 State Highway 49,  near Hessville Road,  Maurice River Township,  New Jersey,  just east of Millville.

Bruce Gordon Low Jr. is listed as general manager of the KISDIR Group.

All seven suspects are also identified on various documents as residents of the property,  but Bruce Gordon Low Jr. reportedly resides at an address in Milmay,  Buena Vista Township,  New Jersey.  Garron reportedly resides at an address in Port Elizabeth, Maurice River Township,  New Jersey.  Hart reportedly resides in Millville.

Royal Bull Kennels

The 5308 State Highway 49 address doubles as the location of Royal Bull Kennels,  a pit bull breeding compound allegedly owned and operated by Bruce Low Jr.,  45,  who calls himself “Hollywood.”

Observed Cohen,  “’We do not break any laws!’  Royal Bull Kennels writes on its website.

“The disclaimer makes clear that the company run by Bruce ‘Hollywood’ Low Jr. knows dog fighting is a felony.

Money laundering

“’We are not interested in going to prison at any point in time,’  the website states.  But that may be exactly where Low and others are heading,”  variously charged with “racketeering,  money laundering,  corporate misconduct and animal torture,”  Cohen said.

In addition to the live pit bulls,  Cohen mentioned,  two more pit bulls were found dead on the premises,   “according to affidavits that tell a tale of an enterprise that used a legitimate construction business,”  KISDIR Group LLC.,  “to launder money.”

“Low Jr.’s Milmay home was also raided, with one dog found,”  Cohen continued.  “George McClinton,”  living next door to the KISDIR premises,  “had 22 dogs taken.

“Dogs chained,  living in barrels”

“Roosevelt Hart III,  identified as Low Jr.’s son-in-law and business partner,  had two dogs seized from his home in Millville,  court documents show.

“Coy Dickenson had dogs chained in the yard and living in barrels and kennels around his trailer on the Millville compound,  the affidavit states,”  Cohen reported.

Mark Runkle,  42,  an alleged Royal Bull Kennels employee with a record including alleged contempt of court and parole violation,  “was released on a summons and not jailed,”  Cohen said.

The other suspects “were informed that they were being released with required court check-ins. They also are barred from having contact with any pit bulls,  but can keep any pets,” Cohen summarized.

China connection

The Royal Bull Kennels website,  besides advertising pit bull stud services and training equipment,  purports to have “linked up with one of the leading Bio-Technology (laboratories) in China,  Sinogene,”  as of March 2023,  to offer pit bull cloning.

“Law enforcement began investigating after getting tips beginning in late 2021,”  reported Chad Pradelli for WPVI later on April 4,  2024.

“Low Jr. is accused of being one of the top five dogfighting breeders in the country,”  Pradelli said.

“Low Jr. allegedly told an undercover officer he did 61 ‘concerts’ last year,  which is code for dogfights.”  Pradelli added.

The family that snorts together

Bruce Gordon Low Jr. on September 28,  2006 pleaded guilty to “unlawful possession with intent to distribute 50 grams of crack cocaine and possession of a firearm after having been convicted of a felony,”  according to court documents,  and on October 21,  2008 was sentenced to serve 151 months in prison,  reduced to 120 months on appeal.

Arrested with Bruce Gordon Low Jr. in 2006 was his girlfriend,  Sabrina Melendez,  also listed on various documents as a resident of 5308 State Highway 49 in Maurice River Township,  mother of current dogfighting suspect Bryce Low.

Sabrina Melendez,  later Sabrina Melendez-Figueroa,   died in Vineland,  New Jersey,  at age 41 in 2021.

Chip off the old block

Also arrested with Bruce Gordon Low Jr. in 2006 was his mother,  Terri Ann Low,  also known as Terri Ann Lower,  who was then a corrections officer at Bayside State Prison in Leesburg,  Maurice River Township.

Terri Ann Low “entered a pre-trial intervention program, forfeiting the right to any future public employment,”  reported Jason Laday for the South Jersey Times.

Bruce Low Sr.,  originally Bruce Lobrio,  father of Bruce Gordon Low Jr. and husband of Terri Ann Low,  was in March 2007 “sentenced to three years probation for cocaine possession,”  Laday added,  after Bruce Low/Lobrio was charged in July 2009 with “among numerous other offenses,  leaving the scene of a three-car accident that left one vehicle in flames and a motorist with serious injuries.

“After leaving the scene,”  the Port Norris police department statement said,  Bruce Low Sr.  “entered a wooded area several miles away and began to alter and make repairs to his vehicle.”

2017 Millville dogfighting bust

The April 3,  2024 raid on the Royal Bull Kennels location was the second big interstate dogfighting bust in the Millville/Maurice River vicinity,  population about 34,000,  within seven years.

Frank Nichols,  40,  of Millville,  New Jersey,  in August 2017 pleaded guilty to “one felony count of conspiracy to transport, deliver and receive dogs intended for use in an animal fighting venture and one felony count of possessing a stolen firearm subsequent to a felony conviction,”  reported Vincent Jackson,  staff writer for The Press of Atlantic City.

Also pleading guilty to multiple felony charges in that case were Lydell Harris,  32,  and Anthony “Monte” Gaines,  36  both of Vineland,  New Jersey.

Pleading guilty to single felony counts were Pedro Cuellar,  47,  of Willow Springs,  Illinois, and Mario Atkinson,  42,  of Asbury Park,  New Jersey.

Nine convicted

“From October 2015 through June 1,  2016,”  Jackson wrote,  “the defendants who pleaded guilty and their co-defendants and associates participated in dog fights,  including to the death,  and trafficked dogs with other dog fighters in New Jersey,  Indiana,  Illinois, New Mexico and elsewhere so those dogs could be used in fights,  authorities said.”

Others convicted of federal crimes in connection with the case were Dajwan Ware,  43,  of Fort Wayne,  Indiana;  Robert Arellano,  62,  of Albuquerque,  New Mexico;  Robert A. Elliott,  Sr,  apparently also of Millville,  New Jersey;  and Justin Love,  39,  of Sewell,  New Jersey.

Released without charges was Tiffany Burt,  34,  of Vineland.

Pit bulls in trash bags

The Millville area has also been the scene of multiple discoveries of dead pit bulls,  including three found in trash bags in a vacant lot on January 1,  2009,  and another found starved to death in a pen behind a vacant house three weeks later.

A young pit bull believed to have been someone’s pet was found dead in a crate in Millville in January 2020.

Local pit bull attacks

A seven-year-old Millville boy lost “a thumb and a chunk of his arm to a pit bull that lived in the apartment below his,”  reported Stephen Smith for The News of Cumberland County on July 11,  2011.

Four pit bulls running at large on June 13,  2022 attacked a 42-year-old man and his 12-year-old son on the Maurice River Bicycle & Walking Trail,  sending both to Inspira Medical Center in Vineland,  Millville Police told local media.

Boston-area bust

Unclear is whether the April 3,  2024 raid on Royal Bull Kennels had any connection to the March 29, 2024 arrest and indictment of John Murphy,  50,  in Hanson,  Massachusetts,  on nine counts of possessing animals for use in an animal fighting venture.

Detailed a U.S. Department of Justice media release,  “According to the indictment,  Murphy possessed numerous items associated” with dogfighting,  impounded with “13 pit bull-type dogs, seized in June 2023 from Murphy’s residence and another residence in Townsend, Massachusetts.”

“Discussed the results of dogfights”

Allegations against Murphy include,  the Department of Justice media release said,  “that Murphy communicated with other dogfighters via Facebook where they discussed the results of dogfights,  injuries sustained by fighting dogs,  and breeding dogs.

“It is alleged that Murphy also belonged to private dogfighting Facebook groups used to share fight results,  buy and sell fighting dogs,  and exchange information on training and conditioning fighting dogs.

Treadmill with live bait

“It is further alleged that Murphy’s Facebook accounts contained a photo of a pit bull-type dog with scarring and discolorations on its head and leg consistent with that of dogfighting,  a photo of a pit bull-type dog restrained in a breeding stand,  and videos that depicted pit bull-type dogs physically tethered to treadmill-like-devices commonly used to physically condition dogs in preparation for a dogfight.

“One video allegedly depicted what appears to be live bait placed at the end of the mill to entice the pit bull-type dog to run faster and harder.”

Fighting for the FIGHT Act

The Royal Bull Kennels and Murphy arrests accentuate the significance of the Fighting Inhumane Gambling & High-Risk Animal Trafficking (FIGHT) Act now before Congress,  the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate versions of which are H.R. 2742 and S. 1529.

“The FIGHT Act,”  summarizes Animal Wellness Action,  “would strengthen existing federal law against dogfighting and cockfighting by allowing a private right of action against dogfighters and cockfighting,  banning on-line gambling on animal fights,  allowing for criminal forfeiture of equipment and properties used in the commission of these crimes,  and enhancing prohibitions on” mailing gamecocks.

“The FIGHT Act is continuing to attract House and Senate cosponsors,”  Animal Wellness Action president Wayne Pacelle told ANIMALS 24-7,  responding to the Royal Bull Kennels bust.

“We are working to attach it to the Farm Bill,  if and when it moves,”  Pacelle said.

“If the Farm Bill does not move,  we’ll work to move the FIGHT Act as a free-standing bill.  It has more than 500 endorsing organizations and agencies,”  Pacelle mentioned,  “including the National District Attorneys’ Association and state sheriff’s associations from Indiana and Ohio to Kansas and Florida.”

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