Hacienda Heights man charged with running illegal dog fights

LOS ANGELES — A Hacienda Heights man was arrested Wednesday on federal charges alleging he hosted dog fights and illegally bred, trained and exhibited animals for use in the venture.

Raymond Nunez, 53, is charged in Los Angeles federal court with buying, delivering and possessing animals for an animal fighting venture, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Court papers allege that from at least December 2025 to last month, Nunez illegally exhibited, bred and trained dogs for dog fighting at his home. He also possessed firearms, which he is not legally permitted to do because of a 1991 felony conviction for unlawful taking a vehicle, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

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, court papers show.

If convicted, Nunez would face up to 10 years in federal prison, prosecutors noted.