‘A dog’s worst nightmare’ — Lexington man sentenced to prison by SC federal judge

A 53-year-old Lexington County man who forced dogs to fight to the death was sentenced to prison Wednesday by a federal judge at the Columbia federal courthouse.

For operating a dog fighting ring on his property, Samuel Gray was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Mary Lewis. He had pleaded guilty in June to possessing animals for an animal fighting venture and for being a felon in possession of six guns and ammunition.

Gray “took man’s best friend and became a dog’s worst nightmare,” assistant U.S. Attorney Elle Klein told Lewis during a sentencing hearing.

“This was entertainment for Mr. Gray; it was fun,” Klein told the judge. “This was pleasure for him.”

In relating Gray’s crimes to the judge, Klein described how dogs would fight to the death or until they could fight no longer in a blood-spattered carpeted pit in a wooded area near Gray’s house.

Authorities recovered 14 dogs, some suffering wounds, and several dog carcasses “discarded like trash” around Gray’s house, Klein said. They also found liquid to wash the dogs’ wounds since dog fighters typically don’t take injured dogs to veterinarians who might question how the dogs were injured.

“They clean the wounds with wound cleanser and hope for the best,” Klein told the judge.

On Gray’s cell phone, law officers also found a video of a dog fight that had taken place three days before his arrest, Klein said.

In a statement to the judge, Gray apologized “for what I have done” and asked for mercy.

He said the guns he had at his house were for his children and the type of .22 caliber light weaponry that people have in the country — for shooting squirrels and rabbits. “I never have been a gun person,” Gray told the judge. The federal government confiscated the guns.

Gray’s attorney, Ben Stitely of Lexington, told the judge that Gray “has been trying to make amends” and has been cooperating with law enforcement.

Stitely asked for home detention, but the judge told him no.

“There is no question this is a serious offense,” Lewis said, adding she wondered what Gray’s children thought when they looked out and saw a dog fighting pit.

“That kind of cruelty is hard to understand,’’ Lewis said.

Illegal dog fighting is widespread in South Carolina and earlier this year the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division ramped up its efforts to crack down on dog fighting operations.

Although no evidence was introduced in Wednesday’s hearing about gambling being part of Gray’s operation, making bets is a typical part of dog fighting operations, law enforcement officials say.

In addition to spending 15 months in federal prison, Gray will be put on three years’ probation where he will not be allowed to gamble in any way, including buying lottery tickets and going into casinos, Lewis said. And he is prevented from owning any dogs also.

Acting on a neighbor’s tip, Lexington County Animal Services and the county sheriff’s department went to Gray’s house in September 2023 and found the dogfighting material. They then turned it over to federal authorities, including the FBI, which investigated the case.

To bring federal charges, the FBI and prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney’s Office needed an interstate connection, which in this case was provided by cans of dog food and a dog flea collar found on Gray’s property. The dog food was manufactured in Kentucky and Missouri and a flea collar came from outside the state, according to evidence in the case.

This story was originally published November 19, 2025 at 2:02 PM with the headline "‘A dog’s worst nightmare’ — Lexington man sentenced to prison by SC federal judge."