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Former Richmond deputy convicted of dogfighting charges

By: Bill McKelway | Times-Dispatch Staff Writer
Published: June 30, 2010

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A former Richmond sheriff's deputy was sentenced to 14 months in jail today on dogfighting and animal-cruelty charges.

A Henrico County prosecutor argued that the cruelty David W. Robinson, 38, displayed toward 22 pit bulls he kept undercut any notion that he had simply become overwhelmed by his ability to care for the animals.

Robinson was found guilty of four felony dogfighting charges, though there was no evidence he had engaged in actual fighting. Authorities, however, found dogfighting equipment on his property and animals with teeth that had been filed. He was also convicted of eight misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty, and three related misdemeanors.

Circuit Judge Burnett Miller III said that he would consider allowing Robinson to finish serving his sentence through home incarceration after four months in jail.

Robinson, who worked at the Richmond Jail, lost his job after he was arrested in April 2009.

He had faced a maximum of 28 years on the charges.