|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
by WILL FOLKS
***
South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) agents made two additional arrests last week in connection with a massive drug and dogfighting ring in two rural counties.
Agents arrested 41-year-old Harold Leonidas Young II and 48-year-old Lance Denitri Mack – both of Mullins, S.C. – last Thursday (October 23, 2025). Young was charged with criminal conspiracy, two counts of ill treatment of animals and five counts of animal fighting or baiting. Mack was charged with one count of criminal conspiracy.
According to probable cause affidavits accompanying the warrants for Young’s arrest, he allegedly “planned and coordinated multiple dogfighting events” with dozens of co-conspirators – “as evidenced by the memorialization of the violent dog fights through photos, videos and text.”
These alleged co-conspirators were part of a “large, multi-state conversation” which included dozens of dogfighters in the Pee Dee region of the Palmetto State as well as North Carolina, the affidavits alleged. This conversation “existed for the purpose of perpetuating criminal activities,” namely the arranging of dogfights.
***
(SLED)
***
“She not coming off da chain for no less than $10k,” Young allegedly wrote other dogfighters in 2022 regarding one of his prize fighting females.
Other messages featured Young arranging fights with dogs for $5,000 or $3,000, agents alleged.
Speaking of chains, in executing a search warrant earlier this month police reportedly found a male dog “tethered to a fixed point by a heavy logging chain.” The male dog exhibited “extensive scarring across the face, chest and front legs area, all of which was consistent with scarring from dogfighting.”
The dog had been “strategically placed behind a vacant residence in an attempt to conceal his presence,” police alleged.
Two other dogs similarly tethered exhibited the same tell-tale scarring, agents noted – and were not protected from the elements. Neither dog had access to food or clean water, and one dog was described as being “extremely emaciated.”
***
RELATED | SLED BREAKS UP RURAL DOGFIGHTING RING
***
Young was not only aware of the condition of these animals, he was “responsible for those conditions,” according to the affidavit.
As for Mack, he was allegedly observed participating in animal fighting on “approximately thirteen separate dates,” dates on which he and his co-conspirators “carried out violent dogfighting events,” per the affidavit.
Dogfighting rings are all too common in the Palmetto State – as evidenced by how often FITSNews and other media outlets here find ourselves reporting on them. As we previously reported, SLED arrested eleven people in April in connection with “a large dogfighting conspiracy” in Marion and Dillon counties – two rural counties located along the Interstate 95 ‘Corridor of Shame.’
That operation resulted in 160 dogs being rescued as well as the seizure of nearly $70,000 in cash along with 55 firearms, 17 pounds of marijuana, 11 grams of crack cocaine, one kilogram of cocaine, two grams of ketamine, 990 round blue fentanyl pills and 2,266 ecstasy (MDMA) pills.
***
Editorially, FITSNews has repeatedly condemned the “inhumane treatment of animals – be it dogfighting, bear-baying or cockfighting.” We have also repeatedly urged state lawmakers to support “severe punishments” for those who “participate in (animal fights), wager on their outcome or pay to attend them.”
Sadly, such calls have gone unheeded…
As for Young and Mack, both were booked into the Marion County detention center. Like their co-defendants arrested in April, they will be prosecuted by the office of S.C. attorney general Alan Wilson.
Are you aware of dogfighting activity in your area? Anyone with information regarding suspected dog fighting in South Carolina is urged to report it to SLED’s Dogfighting Unit via email (tips@sled.sc.gov).
***
RELEASE/WARRANTS…
(SLED)
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
***
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to address proactively? We have an open microphone policy! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.
3 comments
When iI first found out about this being investigated in SLEDs fusion center I was like thats a weird crime to focus on.
I had no idea just how big of a problem SC had with this. Truly terrible, but good to see action on it.
According to J.D. Vance on a recent podcast, “If you mistreat dogs, that’s almost a hundred percent sign that you’re going to be a really terrible person. But you can tell if somebody’s really mean to animals, you know, it’s like the Jeffrey Dahmer thing. Like every serial killer ever has actually been really bad to animals.”
Cricket and I agree, but Kristi Noem would like a word.
Actually, I think these are the exact people who should be headed to the El Salvadoran torture camps the Trump regime set up for migrants.
Yeag,
when people deal with the dark underground, Dog Fighting seems to be a sport they like. Its a domino effect to a lot of dangerous and horrible people.