Buffalo man accused of dog fighting, drug dealing caught in Georgia

Douglas D. Williams, 44, pleaded not guilty when he was arraigned Monday morning in State Supreme Court after being indicted by an Erie County grand jury on 10 felony and two misdemeanor charges.

Justice M. William Boller ordered Williams, who has previous felony convictions from 1996 and 2015, held without bail.

The investigation into Williams began with two separate anonymous tips to the Erie County Sheriff's Office and the SPCA Serving Erie County, authorities said.

Williams was initially arrested Oct. 9, 2020, following a traffic stop on the Thruway in Clarence. Williams was returning to Buffalo with two dogs in his vehicle believed to be from the Syracuse area, Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said.

Authorities then executed a search warrant at Williams' home on Bailey Avenue, near Doat Street, where they allegedly recovered a gun, cocaine, heroin and fentanyl. They also found five more dogs, as well as equipment used to train dogs for dogfighting. The dogs were found either caged or in the yard without food or water, according to investigators.

All seven of the dogs police found eventually were euthanized after being deemed unsafe for rehabilitation or adoption, prosecutors said.

Even though Williams was found in possession of seven dogs, prosecutors believed they only had enough evidence to prove Williams had been fighting three of the dogs, Flynn said. And of those three, prosecutors believed they could prove Williams deprived medical treatment to only two of the dogs, he said.

"That's why even though we have seven dogs, there's only three counts of dog fighting, two counts of the torturing and then we found basically two pieces of equipment that were used for training these animals," he said.

That equipment consisted of a treadmill with an attached chain, as well as a weighted vest, said William Heine, an SPCA senior investigator.

All of the dogs recovered "showed various signs of extreme aggression towards other dogs, which is common in dog fighting," Heine said. Those signs of aggressive behavior included bite wounds on the necks and on the front legs.

"If they were not, they would have most of their bite wounds on the hind legs," he said.

Williams is charged with three counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance; a count of fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance; a count of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon; three counts of dog fighting; two counts of animal cruelty; and two counts of possessing dog fighting paraphernalia.

When Williams was arraigned in Buffalo City Court the day after his arrest, he faced six charges, consisting of drug, weapons and animal abuse charges.

Williams failed to show up to his next court date later in October 2020, according to prosecutors.

A grand jury indicted him in September and Williams failed to show up for his arraignment Oct. 4, according to court records.

Williams, who is facing up to 25 years in prison, was convicted in 1996 of second-degree attempted burglary and in 2015 of second-degree attempted robbery, according to prosecutors. Williams was on parole at the time of his arrest in October 2020, sheriff's officials previously said.