Alleged dog fight operator is innocent, family says

The family of an Elmont man who was arrested for criminal contempt on June 11 after police found several injured dogs in his home, and who, according to police, is suspected of running a dog-fighting operation, says he is innocent, and claim that family members have been targeted by police for several years.

At 4:30 p.m. that day, shortly after Marlon Bernier, 25, dropped his two young children off at his mother’s house at 1869 Virginia Ave. in Elmont, Nassau County police received a 911 call about possible dog-fighting at the home.

When police arrived and asked Bernier for identification, he jumped over a six-foot-high fence at the side of the home and ran away. Police apprehended him after a brief foot chase, and Town of Hempstead Animal Control responded to the residence, along with the NCPD’s Emergency Services Unit. Animal Control removed nine dogs — eight pit bulls and one German shepherd puppy — from cages in the backyard.

According to police, two of the pit bulls had fresh, bleeding wounds on their faces, and several other dogs had scars from older wounds. All of the marks were indicative of fighting with other animals, according to officers, and some of the dogs’ ears had been clipped, a tell-tale sign of dog-fighting.

According to police, two of the dogs were picked up by their owners and the rest were taken to the Town of Hempstead Animal Shelter in Wantagh for examinations and treatment.

Mike Deery, a town spokesman, confirmed that two of the pit bulls had lacerations on their faces and received stitches at the Animal Shelter. The rest of the dogs had old scarring, primarily around their faces, he said. “They all seem to be in good health, physically,” Deery added.

Myrtha Bernier, Marlon’s mother, maintains his innocence. “They think he’s another Michael Vick,” she said. “He is not a cruel person; he would not hurt a fly. Why would we fight dogs here? We’re lovable people.”

Bernier said she had been dog-sitting the nine animals, and that they belonged to three different owners — neighbors and friends of the family. The dogs had been brought to her home by her son, she said, but he did not own any of them. They were barking loudly, she acknowledged, because they were fighting with one another. “The police didn’t even give us a chance to talk,” she said.

She added that the police and town officials exaggerated the dogs’ injuries, and that none of them were bleeding, though some had old scars due to fighting on their own. Only one dog had a fresh scratch, from playing with another dog, she said.

“The 5th Precinct exaggerated. They lied through their teeth,” she said. “We were all shocked when we heard that the dogs were scratched.”

According to the district attorney’s office, Marlon Bernier pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges and served three months in jail after a similar incident last June, and a court order stated that he could not keep any animals for five years. Police found four pit bulls chained to a tree behind his mother’s home, where he was staying at the time, and a fifth, aggressive pit bull, was loose, officers said.

Myrtha Bernier said her son pleaded guilty to the charges last year because he feared an expensive trial that he would likely lose due to his criminal record, which included two felonies and four misdemeanors. She added that she believes Nassau County police have been targeting her family for several years. “When they see an address around here, they look at our house,” she said. “The precinct doesn’t like our house.”

Two years ago, she said, when she was driving to work, she was stopped on Virginia Avenue by several police vehicles. They had received a call about an assault by her son, she said, but when she explained to them that she didn’t know his whereabouts, officers threatened to tow her car. “They wanted it as collateral … they wanted Marlon,” she said.

A cousin of Bernier’s, who declined to be identified, said that last August, when Marlon was still in jail, the cousin was harassed by 5th Precinct officers, who thought he was Bernier. The cousin, who lives in Myrtha Bernier’s home, along with her sister and a niece, said he walked outside to get something out of his mother’s vehicle and was stopped by officers and asked if he was Marlon. When he responded that he was not, he said, police asked for identification, which he did not have with him, so he began walking back toward the house.

“The officer grabbed me and tried to put cuffs on me, and I wouldn’t let him,” the cousin said. “He then punched me and I said, ‘That’s assault.’” When a neighbor across the street came outside and saw what was happening, he added, the officer yelled at him to go back inside. The cousin was arrested, he said, and later told by police that they were looking for Bernier because they suspected that he was involved in a street-racing incident, which the cousin said, took place while he was incarcerated.

Bernier’s cousin said he pressed charges against the 5th Precinct after his arrest, and is awaiting a hearing.

“We need justice. This is racial profiling — nothing else. We have no voice; we are too little,” Myrtha Bernier said, adding that since her son’s recent arrest, she’s received several calls from angry animal activists and concerned residents. “It’s harassment. They went too far, and I’m the one suffering.”

Bernier was charged with second-degree criminal contempt and nine third-degree violations of the New York State Agriculture and Markets Law, which prohibits dog-fighting. According to the district attorney’s office, he could face up to two years in prison if he is convicted.

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