Iredell County Sheriff’s Office Charges Man With Animal Cruelty Involving Dog Fighting

On Thursday, February 1, investigators with the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Unit and Criminal Investigations Division, along with members of the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Response (SERT) Team, executed a search warrant at 196 Whitney Lane in Western Iredell County after conducting an investigation into illegal dog fighting.

After executing the search warrant, 46-year old Claude Anthony Sanders Jr. was charged with Twenty-Four Felony Counts of Cruelty to Animals, Felony Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon, and Misdemeanor Possession of Marijuana.

Evidence indicates Sanders as a key figure in the training, distributing, and the arranging of dog fights in North Carolina, South Carolina, and other states.

Sheriff Campbell termed the condition of some of the dogs as “deplorable.”

Sanders was placed in the Iredell County Detention Center under secured bond of $200,000.