A man arrested after more than a dozen neglected pit bulls were found at his Gaithersburg home has pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges.
Court records show that 45-year-old Charles Copeland Jr. pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Circuit Court this week to six counts of animal cruelty and one count of aggravated animal cruelty for dogfighting.
He was indicted on 46 counts; the others have been dismissed.
Montgomery County officers found 14 pit bulls deprived of shelter and water and one dog with open wounds during a routine inspection at his home. Copeland was told to make improvements, but hadn’t done so when officers did a follow-up check.
Copeland received a suspended jail sentence of a year and half, and will serve three years of supervised probation.
— Emily Babay
