A central Iowa couple has pleaded guilty to taking a pit bull to Missouri for a dog fight. Federal officials busted a dog fighting ring in Missouri last summer. On Thursday, a husband and wife from Perry pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with that raid.

Thirty-two-year-old Jill Makstaller and her 34-year-old husband, Andrew, admitted in federal court that they had taken a pit bull to a home in Gilman City, Missouri where dog fights were to be held. Jill Makstaller had been involved with an obedience training group for dogs.

She was accused of being the referee in one of the Missouri dog fights, as well as betting on the blood sport. She and her husband have 23 pit bull dogs and the federal government is seeking legal ownership of the animals.

Two other men from Iowa have pleaded guilty in connection with the case. The government’s also trying to seize the seven pit bulls those two men own. The dogs are currently being cared for by the Humane Society. Prosecutors say two Missouri men orchestrated the dog fights and, when a pit bull was severely injured, the dog was shot in the head and burned in a barrel or thrown in a nearby river.