Evidence from breeders busted in dogfighting cases illustrates why pit bulls are inherently high risk
LADSON, South Carolina; BAKERSFIELD, California; CHARLOTTE, North Carolina; BESSEMER, Alabama; CINCINNATI, Ohio; TACOMA, Washington––If one happened to follow the news from the Carolinas, Alabama, central California, Ohio, and the Puget Sound region of Washington, one might have seen coverage encapsulating almost the whole status of pit bulls as of 2026 in just three days: child killers, prolifically bred and used by dogfighters, yet aggressively pushed into communities by “no kill” humane societies regardless of risk.
Each aspect of the pit bull crisis, moreover, was underscored by incidents in multiple places at almost the same time.
Autistic five-year-old killed in caregiver’s home
Five-year-old JayCeon Gates, of Charleston, South Carolina, was fatally mauled at about 7:30 a.m. on June 27, 2026 by two pit bulls inside a caregiver’s home in Ladson, 19 miles northeast, Dorchester County coroner Paul Brouthers disclosed on June 29, 2026.
An adult, believed to have been the caregiver and the pit bull’s owner, was also injured during the attack.
“This vibrant, full-of-life, autistic boy was loved deeply by his mom and big sister, and his passing has left a hole in the hearts of everyone who knew him. While under the care of his therapist, JayCeon was attacked by two pit bulls,” updated family friend Danielle Riley in a GoFundMe appeal for donations toward funeral costs.
A multi-state company called Best Ever ABA in August 2025 began advertising autism diagnostic and care services for children in the Charleston area through a website and Facebook. ANIMALS 24-7 asked Best Ever ABA by email whether it was involved, but as of June 30, 2026 had received no response.
(Facebook photos collage)
Bakersfield pit bull owner charged with murder
Also on June 29, 2026, in Bakersfield, California, Kenneth Paul Dobbins, 68, was to appear in court in connection with the June 18, 2026 pit bull attack death of 12-year-old Fernando Torres Moreno and the ensuing mauling of Torres Moreno’s eight-year-old sister.
Dobbins is charged with second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, and allowing a dangerous animal to go at large resulting in death and injury.
But Dobbins “refused to attend his arraignment hearing,” reported Sam Hoyle, KERO neighborhood reporter for the Shafter, Wasco, and Lost Hills communities near Bakersfield.
“Court staff noted that the commissioner presiding over the hearing authorized use of reasonable force to ensure Dobbins appears in court” on June 30, 2026, Hoyle said.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Saved pit bulls but not drowning child
“According to a search warrant filed for Dobbins’ address in California City,” Hoyle continued, “Dobbins’ three dogs,” all of them pit bulls, “chased Torres Moreno into the waters of Central Park Lake, and Torres Moreno began to struggle to stay above water.
“California City Police allege that Dobbins went into the water to retrieve the dogs, but did not attempt to help Torres Moreno, walking away while calling his dogs to follow him,” Hoyle narrated.
“When police arrived on scene, ” Hoyle added, “they were able to pull Torres Moreno’s body from the lake to begin life-saving procedures, though the child died a day later in a Tehachapi hospital.”
Pits also attacked sister & menaced cop
Meanwhile, “According to the warrant, after Dobbins’ dogs were pulled from the water, the dogs allegedly attacked Torres Moreno’s 8-year-old sister, leaving her with serious bites.”
Amid all that, Hoyle said, “a California City police officer alleges he was chased and surrounded by the dogs and called Dobbins to gain control of them before Dobbins left the scene.
“The officer at the scene noted he recognized the dogs and the owner from a previous call he assisted with earlier in the week.”
Dobbins fled the scene with his three pit bulls, but was apprehended three days later in Lancaster, California.
JayCeon Gates and Fernando Torres Moreno were the fortieth and forty-first dog attack fatalities in the U.S. during the first half of 2026, and the 30th and 31st fatalities inflicted by a pit bull. Both totals would have been records for a full year as recently as 2016.
Fighting pit bull breeders charged
Meanwhile in Charlotte, North Carolina, “Two Statesville men are facing federal charges for allegedly running a multi-state commercial dog breeding operation that bred pit bulls advertised and sold for illegal dog fighting,” announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
Explained a June 23, 2026 media release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina, “The federal indictment was unsealed yesterday, charging Juelz Christopher Daniels, 19, and Reginald Lionel Goodson, Jr., 55, with one count of conspiracy to violate the Animal Welfare Act.
“Daniels is also charged with three counts charging the possession, training, and sale of fighting dogs, and eight counts of violating the Animal Welfare Act, related primarily to his possession, training, and sale of fighting dogs, and advertising fighting dogs for sale on Facebook.”
Selectively bred fighting traits
Search warrants executed at three residences, the media release added, brought the impoundment of “25 pit bull-type dogs, including puppies, as well as other items, tools, and paraphernalia associated with breeding and training animals for dog fighting.”
Operating from January 2021 to May 2026 as Hoodwinds Kennels, Daniels and Goodson “selectively bred pit bull-type dogs to display particular traits desirable for dog fighting, including aggressiveness and propensity to fight other dogs, often referred to as ‘gameness,’ or a willingness to continue fighting another dog despite traumatic or mortal injury,” the Western District of North Carolina media release detailed.
“Both defendants are in federal custody,” the media release concluded.
“If convicted, Daniels and Goodson each face a sentence of up to five years in prison for the charge of conspiracy to violate the Animal Welfare Act, and Daniels faces a sentence of up to five years in prison for each count of possession and commerce of fighting dogs and for each count of advertising fighting animals through interstate commerce.”
(Beth Clifton collage)
Convicted dogfighter ordered to make restitution
Three days after that, the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs on June 26, 2026 announced that “Carlton Lenard Adams, of Bessemer and Adger, Alabama, was sentenced last month to 120 months in prison,” amounting to 10 years, “after pleading guilty in January 2026 to four counts of possessing dogs for fighting purposes and two counts of possessing firearms subsequent to a felony conviction.
(See What a Cane Corso victim & a dogfighting suspect had in common.)
“In addition to the prison sentence,” the Department of Justice media release said, “the court also yesterday imposed a restitution of $548,449 for the costs of care of 78 pit bull-type dogs rescued in this investigation. At time of rescue, 78 dogs was the second-greatest number rescued from a single defendant in any federal case.”
“Evaluated for possible adoption”
Added the media release, “Some of the dogs bore scars and other injuries, and some were living in conditions of extreme neglect. Adams was also found to possess two pistols and a semi-automatic shotgun known colloquially as a street sweeper. Under federal law, a street sweeper is considered a destructive device.”
The pit bulls, the media release finished, “were rescued and cared for by a program administered by the U.S. Marshals Service. Following a separate, successful civil forfeiture action brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama, the dogs did not have to be returned to Adams. They were instead rehabilitated and evaluated for possible adoption.”
86% of dogs at overcrowded Cinci Animal CARE are pit bulls
In Cincinnati, reported Jenilee Borek for WKRC television on June 23, 2026, “Cincinnati Animal CARE is in a ‘Code Red’ situation as its shelters struggle with overcrowding,
“The organization is caring for more than 800 dogs and cats across its two shelters,” elaborated Borek. “Just last weekend, 89 animals arrived while only 61 left for adoptions.
“Cincinnati Animal CARE took over the Hamilton County Animal Services contract in 2020,” Borek explained, “and became a ‘no-kill’ shelter, meaning it will not euthanize the animals because of not having enough space.”
Of the 331 dogs Cincinnati Animal CARE listed for adoption that day, 284––86%––were pit bulls, pit bull mixes, and pit bull variants.
Cincinnati Animal CARE addressed the problem by rehoming animals, including pit bulls, without an adoption fee.
Rehomed pit bulls injure 9-months-pregnant woman
The risk inherent in rehoming pit bulls were illustrated two days later, on June 25, 2026, when a nine-months-pregnant woman in Tacoma, Washington was knocked down and seriously bitten on the date she was due to give birth by two pit bulls who were reportedly rehomed together earlier in the month by the Humane Society for Tacoma & Pierce County.
The two pit bulls attacked the pregnant woman as she was walking her Chihuahua to her car in a South Tacoma apartment parking lot.
Apartment house neighbors David Smith and Satya Boyle came to the rescue of the woman, who was hospitalized, and reportedly gave birth successfully that evening.
The Chihuahua ran away, but was later recovered.
(Beth Clifton collage)
The attack was the second in two months by pit bulls offered for rehoming by the Humane Society for Tacoma & Pierce County.
(See Moms killed by dogs remembered in memoriam on Mother’s Day 2026.)
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Is anyone surprised, in a society like this one?
Thanking you for your continuing coverage of these senseless, avoidable, unjustifiable maimings and murders by dog.
Why aren’t more human society organizations and HOA sued?
It has now been decades that I, a long time animal advocate who has been the fortunate guardian of 3 rescued ‘random breed’ Shelter dogs, though none were pit bulls, have been reading of similar horrendous accounts of injury and deaths of people and other dogs.
I am aware that other other countries and some U.S. states have restrictions on ‘owning’ this breed and have long called for them to be ‘grandfathered out.’
Regrettably, the process and progress to do so is glacial to non-existent despite such abhorrent reports and pleas to legislators.
I am aware that our shelters are over capacity with dogs of this breed and of the reluctance to have ‘breed-specific’ legislation and know of people who are loyal defenders of pit bulls despite such accounts and police reports.
All one can do in the face of such reluctance to deal with these gruesome facts,
is to keep reporting as you do and hope that eventually some common sense will eventually prevail.
Unfortunately, Elaine, there is no state-level legislation at the present time to restrict the possession, breeding, or commerce in pit bulls, including in the name of rescue, other than the Animal Welfare Act provisions applying to commercial dog breeders.