NATCHEZ — An Adams County man accused of running a dogfighting training facility was indicted on 10 felony counts of dogfighting.

On the evening of Nov. 6, 2017, deputies of the Adams County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to property owned by Tommie Queen at 29 1/2 Miracle Road in the Cranfield community where more than 50 injured and starving dogs and the bones of dozens of deceased animals were found.

Queen turned himself in to the sheriff’s office on Nov. 8, 2017, and bonded out the next day. He remains free on $50,000 bond.

Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten said  felony cases such as Queen’s often take months to investigate.

“Most felony cases such as this can take up to a year to be processed,” Patten said.

Queen has been indicted on charges of 10 counts of dogfighting with a bond of $50,000 and one charge of receiving stolen property with a bond of $5,000. Queen is expected to appear at an arraignment set for Sept. 6.

Partially in response to the publicity of this case, the Mississippi Legislature passed a bill June 30 aimed at stiffening penalties for dogfighting in an effort to reduce dogfighting in the state, and the resulting new law went in to effect July 1.

Under the previous law, offenders could receive between a $1,000 and $5,000 fine or one to three years in jail while spectators could receive between $500 to $5,000 in fines or one year in jail.

The new law states that people who promote, stage or bet on dogfights, own a dog with intent to enter it into a fight or own dogfighting paraphernalia may face between one and five years in jail, and repeat offenders are punishable by fines of $5,000 to $10,000 or prison sentences of three to 10 years.

The new law is already in effect, but Queen’s charges predate the new law so if he is found guilty, he would face the older penalties.