Hacienda Heights Man Arrested and Charged with Running Dog Fighting Venture and with Illegal Firearms Possession
LOS ANGELES / Wednesday, March 4, 2026 – A Hacienda Heights man was arrested today on a federal criminal complaint charging him with hosting dog fights and illegally breeding, training, and exhibiting dogs for use in such fights.
Raymond Nunez, 53, is charged with buying, delivering, and possessing animals for an animal fighting venture, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Nunez was arrested this morning and is scheduled to make his initial appearance this afternoon in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles.
According to the complaint, from at least December 2025 to February 2026, Nunez illegally exhibited, bred, and trained dogs for dog fighting at his home in Hacienda Heights. He also possessed firearms, which he is not legally permitted to do because of his felony conviction in Los Angeles Superior Court in 1991 for unlawful taking of a vehicle.
On Tuesday, federal agents executed a search warrant at Nunez’s home and seized, among other things: an AK-47 style assault rifle and a shotgun; 10 firearms in a safe in the master bedroom; an emaciated pit bull that was bleeding and chained to a cable in the yard; a second pit bull with scars in a bloody caged area; multiple dog treadmills; a rope with a scale for weighing dogs; and a skin stapler and syringes.
A complaint contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.
If convicted, Nunez would face a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.
This case is part of the federal, state, and local Dog Fighting and Animal Abuse Task Force spearheaded by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California and Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office launched in 2025.
The FBI and the United States Marshals Service are investigating this matter.
Assistant United States Attorney Dennis Mitchell of the Environmental Crimes and Consumer Protection Section is prosecuting this case.
Contact
Ciaran McEvoy
Public Information Officer
ciaran.mcevoy@usdoj.gov
(213) 894-4465
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California
