Deputies seized 25 dogs after cracking a multi-state dog-fighting ring, Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell said Friday.

“The conditions that some of the dogs were found in were deplorable,” Campbell said in a statement. “A large number of the dogs were kept in outside kennels, and most of these were covered in feces and urine.”

Deputies found the dogs and a ring where the dogs fought after executing a search warrant Thursday on a home in the 100 block of Whitney Lane, Campbell said.

Whitney Lane is near the Sharon School Road exit of Interstate 40 in the rural western end of the county.

“Several of the dogs had obvious scars and facial injuries from previous dog fights,” Campbell said. “There were also signs of forced breeding and various exercise equipment to develop strength and stamina, which aid in dog fighting.”

Investigators arrested 46-year-old Claude Anthony Sanders Jr., who lives in the home, and charged him with 24 counts of felony cruelty to animals and a count each of felony possession of a firearm by a felon and misdemeanor possession of marijuana.

Campbell described Sanders as “a key figure in the training, distributing and arranging of dog fights” in the Carolinas and other states. Campbell didn’t name the other states.

Investigators also found items used to train dogs to fight; medication and treatment supplies for injured dogs; marijuana and a handgun, the sheriff said.

Sanders remained jailed on a $200,000 secured bond Friday, jail records showed.