Daycare & Dogfighting, Same House

Maywood, IL, a suburb of Chicago, is buzzing with the news that the house where neighbors left their children for the day, a properly licensed daycare center, also ran another, more deadly, business on the premises by night. 

There is no denying what went on in the garage–dried blood stains on concrete floors a silent testimony, the puppy missing an eye, the scarred faces, maimed and malnourished bodies of eight other dogs–three men were arrested for dogfighting.  Police are looking for two other suspects.

There were 10 children at the daycare when officers raided the property. The swingset was within 10 ft of chained dogs.  Inside the garage, syringes, break sticks, medication, and other equipment was found, along with a very aggressive dog in pain from a recent fight, with a shredded chest and other painful wounds.

The Department of Children and Family Services, which issued the daycare license, had received two complaints about dogs.  The latest update shows that DCFS had visited the property four times since 2006 with no indication of dogs.

The woman who ran the daycare center out of the house, wife of one of the men arrested, said she didn’t know anything about it.  Didn’t we just hear that same thing from the woman in Britain’s biggest dogfighting bust?  Didn’t work there. 

Here’s a video report from Sheriff Tom Dart, with Linda Estrada of the Animal Welfare League who are caring for the dogs.  From the Associated Press:  

I first heard news of this report at Steve Dale’s new blog, later from NBC TV news and finally the updated story after 10 pm last night from Chicago Breaking News.