Lifetime Animal Ownership Ban For Hempstead Man Who Pleaded Guilty To Dogfighting And Drug Charges: DA

MINEOLA, NY — A Hempstead man received a 50-year/lifetime animal ownership ban this week after he pleaded guilty to charges relating to his role in what prosecutors call a “dogfighting operation,” prosecutors said.

Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said 39-year-old Kevin Brown was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in jail Tuesday with five years of post-release supervision and the animal ban after he pleaded guilty on June 4, 2026 to charges of criminal possession of a controlled substance, criminal possession of a weapon and aggravated animal cruelty.

Those charges, Donnelly said, stemmed from the execution of a search warrant at Brown’s house in December of 2024, during which police discovered over 1,000 pills, a loaded gun, a bag containing ketamine and seven dogs being kept in conditions “indicative of dogfighting.”

“This defendant had enough fentanyl in his home to kill tens of thousands of people, but his stockpile of dangerous drugs was just the tip of the iceberg as investigators discovered a dogfighting operation and seven young pitbulls [sic] scarred and in squalid conditions,” Donnelly said. “Dogfighting fosters violence and often goes hand-in-hand with drug and gang activity. This defendant exploited these vulnerable animals, and his criminal actions could have led to even more suffering if he was not stopped.”

According to prosecutors, NCPD and a DEA task force began an overdose investigation in September of 2024 that led them to Brown after months of surveillance. That surveillance not only led to Brown’s arrest and charging for three separate drug deals in October of 2024, but led to the December 2024 search warrant.

In total, authorities found three sets of pills in Brown’s home: a 1,053-pill, 116.8-gram set that tested positive for fentanyl, an 84-pill, 14.91-gram set that also contained fentanyl, and a 10-pill set that contained hydrocodone, prosecutors said.

Also found in the house that day was a bag full of a powdery substance later tested and revealed to be ketamine, a loaded .9mm Smith & Wesson handgun with eight rounds in the magazine, and an additional magazine with eight rounds in it, prosecutors said.

Finally, in and around the property, prosecutors said police found seven dogs — five male and two female — “in dirty and cluttered wooden crates.” Six of the dogs were tethered with heavy chains and collars while one was roaming the backyard, prosecutors said. Extra collars were found hanging from fencing around the property, and the chained dogs did not appear to have access to food or water, prosecutors said.

The Nassau County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the DA’s office both dispatched personnel to the residence and found a hanging spring pole, a modified treadmill and “other animal fighting paraphernalia, all of which, combined with how the dogs were housed and chained, were indicative of a dogfighting training or breeding operation,” prosecutors said.

At least one of the dogs was found with an open wound, while three of the other dogs had wounds that had recently healed, prosecutors said. All seven dogs “were also found to have scars indicative of dogfighting around their muzzles and other areas on their bodies,” while the female dogs showed signs of previously breeding puppies, prosecutors said. Finally, the dog that roamed the backyard was found with cropped ears, a common practice for fighting dogs, prosecutors said.

In light of these revelations, a warrant was issued that allowed authorities to seize the animals and the paraphernalia found in the backyard, prosecutors said.

Brown was arrested in Seaford on Dec. 3, 2024, prosecutors said.

Brown's attorney, Marc Gann, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

As for the dogs, all of them have since been adopted, with one being released to its owner who was not Brown, prosecutors said.