Milwaukee man to be sentenced for dogfighting

MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee man convicted of participating in a dogfighting ring is scheduled to be sentenced.

Thomas S. Zollicoffer pleaded guilty Monday to training pit bulls to fight and arranging their bouts. The 25-year-old faces a maximum penalty of 4½ years in prison and a $20,000 fine when he's sentenced Wednesday morning.

Prosecutors say Zollicoffer hosted dog fights, and sometimes killed dogs by hanging them from his basement beams.

He was one of at least 13 people arrested in April, as part of what authorities described as a countywide dogfighting ring. Investigators recovered 22 living dogs, as well as the fresh corpse of a bloody dog in one suspect's backyard.

A message left with Zollicoffer's defense attorney was not immediately returned.