Video on cell phone lands two Abbeville men in jail for fighting dogs

In the age of smartphones, allowing someone to video you taking part in criminal activity can land you in jail.
Two men found that out this week when Abbeville Police arrested them on dogfighting charges, thanks to video footage from a phone.
Police arrested Dion Green, 32, and Travis Cooper, 24, both of Abbeville, Wednesday afternoon and charged them with dogfighting activities. Green also faces charges of resisting an officer. Cooper bonded out of the Vermilion Parish Jail. Green remains there on a $50,000 bond.
“We obtained video from a cell-phone from a recent investigation,” Abbeville Police Lt. David Hardy said. “The phone had videos of numerous individuals fighting dogs.”
Through an investigation, police identified and issued warrants for both Cooper and Green, arresting them at separate locations Wednesday in Abbeville. Hardy said more arrests from this investigation are expected.
“Warrants have been obtained for other suspects,” Hardy said.
Police also recovered a firearm and ammunition during the arrests. The weapon has not been reported stolen at this time.
“It is going to be sent to the crime lab for DNA,” Det. Ryan Boutte said. “It will then be run through ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms.”
Video footage from a phone is not a common path to an arrest. Hardy said it could become more so in the future, given the popularity of phones with video capabilities.
“Everybody wants to video everything,” Hardy said. “This time, they videoed criminal activity.”
This does not fall under the same circumstance if police viewed a similar video from a website such as Youtube.
“We would have to subpoena the website to see where the footage originated,” Hardy explained. “There are many steps in that process. We had the phone in our possession as evidence which made the process of these arrest move quickly.
“With everything on video, it’s dated and timed stamped evidence.”
The dogs that were fighting were pit bulls.