Kansas City News Blog

BY CASEY LYONS

After an early morning raid today, the U.S. Attorney's office in Western Missouri indicted two amateur Michael Vicks from Missouri and four others on dogfighting charges and seized 53 dogs.

Over a year-long investigation, federal and state agents observed enough gruesome shit to rival a Saw movie, and then summarized it in short, graphic sentences. The bust was part of a three-state raid that seized another 350 dogs (mostly pit bulls) and 19 people.

Indicted on five charges of interstate conspiracy to make money by fighting dogs are:

• Rick P. Hihath, 55, of St. Joseph, Mo.
• Cris E. Bottcher, 48, of Gillman City, Mo.
• Julio Reyes, 28, of Tecumseh, Neb.
• Jill D. Makstaller, 43, of Perry, Iowa
• Zachary R. Connelly, 32, of Ogden, Iowa
• Kevin P. Tasler, 51, of Jefferson, Iowa
• Ryan J. Tasler, 42, of Woodward, Iowa

The U.S. Attorney's office says Hihath, who works in a state school for the disabled, and Bottcher, a registered nurse at a hospital in Bethany, allegedly bred pit bulls, made them mean, built fighting pens at Bottcher's farm homestead in Gillman City, encouraged their friends to come over, took bets, handled the money, handled the stopwatch, handled the dogs and probably had some major boner moments watching it all go down.

Ryan Tasler allegedly sponged blood off the dogs between rounds.

Bottcher, the nurse, allegedly used a .22-caliber rifle to off a pair of dogs that didn't fight hard enough and dumped the carcasses in a plastic container. The indictment also says the men disposed of dog bodies by torching them in a barrel or chucking them in a river.

If convicted, each dog fighter faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000 per indictment.

The Humane Society took the dogs into custody and has put them in a temporary holding area, but is under orders not to say where or comment on the dogs' conditions.