Capitol Heights Man Sentenced To Prison For Involvement In Dogfighting: Prosecutor

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — A Capitol Heights man has been sentenced to two years in prison for conspiring to engage in dogfighting.

According to court documents, from May 2015 through at least August 2020, Charles Edward Williams, III, 50, and other conspirators from Virginia, D.C., and Maryland used a messaging app private group, which they referred to as “The DMV Board” or “The Board,” as a place where they and their cohorts could discuss training fighting dogs, exchange videos about dogfighting and arrange and coordinate dog fights.

Members of The DMV Board also used the messaging app to compare methods of killing dogs that lost fights, as well as to circulate media reports about conspirators who had been caught by law enforcement and discuss methods to minimize the likelihood that they would be caught themselves.

Williams entered multiple dogs into fights, according to court documents. In March 2018, Williams entered a dog into a fight at a warehouse in Pennsylvania. Law enforcement officers broke up the fight and apprehended several weapons and two injured dogs from the warehouse. They also arrested those who were present, including Williams.

In April 2019, Williams and co-conspirator Michael Roy Hilliard, 37, of Fort Washington, Maryland, drove to Bunnlevel, North Carolina, with a dog belonging to Williams so that he could enter the dog in a dog fight. The fight lasted less than 10 minutes before being won by the dog belonging to Williams. An unindicted conspirator shot and killed the dog that lost the fight, according to court documents.

In August 2022, Williams, Hilliard and five others were indicted for a dogfighting conspiracy involving the DMV Board, according to court documents. In November 2022, Williams, Hilliard and their co-defendants Derek Garcia and Ricardo Thorne pleaded guilty for their roles in the conspiracy. Hilliard, Garcia and Thorne are scheduled to be sentenced in March 2023. They each face a maximum penalty of five years in prison.