Kevin Brown, of Hempstead, indicted for allegedly running a fentanyl and dogfighting operation

A Hempstead man was arraigned Wednesday on 34 felony counts of running a fentanyl and dogfighting operation out of his mother’s house.

Kevin Brown, 39, pleaded not guilty to dozens of charges of drug and gun possession and keeping seven fighting dogs in squalid conditions in the backyard of his mother’s Willow Avenue address.

Supreme Court Justice Caryn Fink extended his $100,000 bail from a previous arraignment on drug charges and ordered him to stay away from dogs.

"You are not permitted control or custody of any animals," the judge said.

Brown’s lawyer, Marc Gann, said the dogs, gun and drugs did not belong to his client and he does not live in the Willow Avenue house with his mother.

"I don't believe he was the owner of these dogs," the defense attorney said. "I think the DA has made assumptions about dog fighting that I don't think is accurate."

He said one of the dogs was a purebred, not a fighting dog, that belonged to Brown’s mother, who is in her 70s.

"I know there are allegations of a significant amount of drugs being found in a residence, not one that he lived in," Gann said. "I think there are serious questions about his connection to those drugs as well."

Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said Brown’s arrest was the culmination of a monthslong investigation that started with a joint DEA and Nassau County police investigation into an overdose in Uniondale in September 2024.

Undercover investigators were led to Brown’s mother’s Hempstead home, where they made three drug buys over the next few months until investigators got a search warrant to raid the house. Inside, they found a cache of more than 1,100 pills, weighing over 130 grams, most of which tested positive for fentanyl, Nassau prosecutors said.

Donnelly said the pills were pressed to look like the painkiller oxycodone, but contained fentanyl.

Investigators said they also seized pain pills, ketamine and a loaded 9 mm Smith & Wesson with eight live rounds and another clip holding the same amount of ammunition.

In the dirty, cluttered backyard, prosecutors say they found seven dogs, all but one chained to crates "without signs of food and water."

The Nassau County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals were called to the house, where they identified dogfighting paraphernalia, including a treadmill and a spring pole. Animal investigators say there was some indication two of the dogs were being bred.

All of the dogs had scars on their bodies consistent with dogfighting, prosecutors said. One canine had cropped ears that are often found on fighting dogs and an open wound, according to the district attorney’s office.

"This isn't just cruel, it's a serious crime," Donnelly said at a noon news conference. "Dogfighting fosters violence and often goes hand in hand with drug activity, which is what we saw in this defendant's case. This operation exploited people and animals for financial gain. And let me be very clear, this lawlessness will not be tolerated by my office."

A 7-month-old brown pit bull puppy, dubbed Bruce Willis, found on the property also attended the news conference. He has doubled his weight from 23 pounds when he was found to 47 pounds now, according to his NCSPCA handler.

"As a dog owner, I personally take offense to what Mr. Brown did to these dogs," Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said at the news conference. "He should live in the same squalor that he put these poor dogs in and let him learn that little lesson in life."

Brown’s defense attorney said his client was a family man who has always returned to his court dates in the past.

Donnelly, however, said he was a repeat drug offender, who has a history of animal abuse.

He will return to court on April 30.