Robert Tomlin has been sentenced to four months house arrest for his involvement in an alleged dog fighting ring in Merlin.
Tomlin pleaded guilty to animal cruelty in Chatham-Kent court on Thursday. He also got two years probation, a lifetime ban from owning pets, and has to provide a DNA sample.
However, charges of neglect and animal cruelty have been dropped against co-accused Candace Johnson.
Assistant Crown attorney James Boonstra doesn't think anybody is happy with the result, but the case had to come to an end at some point.
"I don't think anybody is happy with this case. Nobody likes to hear about animals being abused or mistreated or made to fight," says Boonstra.
Tomlin is ordered to have no contact with co-accused John Robert, Michael Gagnon, along with others implicated in the case. He is also not to leave Ontario.
Robert and Gagnon will be in court September 25 to set a trial date.
A total of 21 pit bulls were seized from a property on Morris Line in Merlin in October of 2015.
Boonstra says the fact that Tomlin pleaded guilty avoids a trial but he admits there will be those who don't think the punishment is enough.
"Nobody is happy with that. I don't think anybody is happy with the result, but it has to come to a conclusion at some point," Boonstra says.
While handing down the sentence, Justice Paul Kowalyshyn told Tomlin that his offence is "the lowest of the low" and that he had no regard for the well being of animals.