Illegal breeding, dog fighting ring suspected

Jen Lawson

Monday, Jan. 13, 2003 | 11:03 a.m.

The owner of a pet grooming shop arrested last week in connection with a vehicle chop shop operation might have also been involved in illegal dog breeding and pit bull fighting, a Clark County Animal Control official said.

Graham Pickett, 32, owner of Artistic Pet Grooming, 6620 E. Flamingo Road, is being held in the Clark County Detention Center on charges of grand larceny auto, possession of stolen vehicles, altering a vehicle identification number and running a chop shop.

Pickett may also be facing animal cruelty charges, said David March, senior animal control officer.

Metro Police served a search warrant Wednesday night at Artistic Pets while investigating a car theft ring. Police found 51 dehydrated, hungry dogs packed into boxes and cages inside the business.

March is in the early stages of his investigation, but he said he is looking into the possibility that Pickett was running a puppy mill and selling dogs out of his shop. He does not have the proper permits or zoning and business licenses to sell dogs, March said.

"This is a very murky case," he said. "We're getting calls from people in North Carolina and Washington state saying they sent their dogs (to Pickett) for breeding. "It's pretty unusual to send your animal somewhere. Purebred dogs are worth a lot of money," he said, adding that one of the dogs in the shop was a purebred English bulldog.

March also possible signs of pit bull fighting, in which dogs are raised to be aggressive and forced to fight for entertainment and profit. Most of the dogs found in the business were pit bulls. Some had injured legs, ears and heads, but it is not clear if they were being forced to fight, March said.

"We're hoping people with information will come forward," March said.

Pickett was cited by Animal Control last week for the unsanitary conditions of his shop. However, March said no further action was taken then because he believes Pickett knew officers were coming and took many of the dogs out of the shop before they arrived.

Through a tip from a grooming shop customer, police hit upon a gold mine of stolen luxury cars that were being resold.

A customer of the grooming shop who was unhappy with Pickett's grooming services called Metro to report that Pickett was always driving a different new luxury car, which seemed suspicious, police said.

"Anytime you have a business, people get disgruntled," said Sgt. Susan Shingleton of Metro's Vehicle Investigation Project for Enforcement and Recovery team. "But we looked into it and said, 'Wow, OK, let's put a whole team on this.' "

Officers investigated for about a month, and discovered a fairly large chop shop operation. It had been operating about a year and a half, Shingleton said.

Police also arrested Gary Wayne Ramsdell, 31; Randall Ray Scott, 49; and Dawn Stephanie Wilson, 31. All were charged with grand larceny auto, possession of stolen vehicles, altering vehicle identification numbers and running a chop shop.

Officers recovered seven high-end vehicles, including luxury sport utility vehicles, a 2003 Camaro, a Mercedes and a Jaguar after serving search warrants at Artistic Pets and at the homes of those arrested, and expect to recover more. Additional arrests are expected.

"They were stealing the vehicles from dealerships, parties, wherever they saw a car they liked," Shingleton said. "It's a really small group of people doing a significant amount of work."

Scott is a code enforcement officer for the city of Henderson, responsible for making sure city signs are in compliance with city code. His job status is under evaluation, a city spokeswoman said.