http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2927560
SURRY, Va. -- Federal authorities have filed court documents outlining an alleged dogfighting operation at a property owned by Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, The Associated Press reported Friday.
Vick is not named in the documents.
The documents filed in U.S. District Court in Richmond and obtained Friday by The Associated Press contain the address of the home that has been the center of the investigation.
The filing comes on a day when federal agents searched the wooded property Vick is currently selling in southeastern Virginia on Friday. Fifteen vehicles were on the property, including a rental truck and a Virginia State Police evidence collections truck.
According to the documents, dog fights have been sponsored by "Bad Newz Kennels" at the property since at least 2002. For the events, participants and dogs traveled from South Carolina, North Carolina, Maryland, New York, Texas and other states.
Members of the venture also knowingly transported, delivered and received dogs for animal fighting, the documents state.
Fifty-four animals were recovered from the property during searches in April, along with a "rape stand," used to hold dogs in place for mating; an electric treadmill modified for dogs; and a bloodied piece of carpeting, the documents said.
The property was used as the "main staging area for housing and training the pit bulls involved in the dog fighting venture," according to the filings.
The documents said the fights usually occurred late at night or in the early morning and would last several hours. The winning dog would win from "100's up to 1,000's of dollars," and participants and spectators also would place bets on the fight.
Fights would end when one dog died or the surrender of the losing dog, which was sometimes put to death by drowning, strangulation, hanging, gun shot, electrocution or some other method, according to the documents.
During a June search of the property, investigators uncovered the graves of seven pit bulls that were killed by members of "Bad Newz Kennels" following sessions to test whether dogs would be good fighters, the documents said.
Members of "Bad Newz Kennels" also sponsored and exhibited fights in other parts of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, New Jersey and other states, the filings said.
Friday morning, a U.S. Department of Agriculture agent stationed at the gate on the southeastern Virginia property had no comment, ESPN's Kelly Naqi reported. The USDA is the federal agency with oversight over treatment of domestic animals and investigates dog fighting allegations.
The authorities arrived sometime after 6 a.m. ET.
State and federal investigators concentrated their search looking for dog carcasses allegedly buried somewhere behind the property, according to Naqi. At 1:30 p.m. ET, a backhoe pulled onto the property and began to maneuver by some black outhouses, located behind the main house, and headed further into the woods. Those black houses are where local investigators had found the items listed in the court documents, including the blood-stained carpeting and rape stand.
Portsmouth's WAVY-TV broadcast video of investigators working under a blue tarp on a portion of the property. They were sifting dirt collected in white buckets and clearing brush. Some wore T-shirts with the wording "POLICE."
The property includes a metal gate at the entrance of the large white house and a fence around the perimeter, which obscured the work of investigators.
Corinne Geller, a spokesman for the Virginia State Police, said state authorities were working with federal investigators in an "assistance capacity."
On June 7, federal law enforcement officials descended on the property with a search warrant. More than a dozen vehicles went to the home early that day and investigators searched inside before turning their attention to the area where officials found dozens of dogs in late April and evidence that suggested the home was involved in a dogfighting operation.
Surry County officials had secured a search warrant in late May based on an informant's information to look for as many as 30 dog carcasses buried on the property. The warrant never was executed because Commonwealth's Attorney Gerald G. Poindexter said he had issues with the way it was worded.
The results of that search have remained sealed.
At the time, Poindexter expressed surprise at why the federal government was involved.
"What is foreign to me is the federal government getting into a dogfighting case," Poindexter said. "I know it's been done, but what's driving this? Is it this boy's celebrity? Would they have done this if it wasn't Michael Vick?"
A day later, "They launched a separate, independent federal investigation," Poindexter said of the government, which has had a representative involved in the local probe all along.
"We are just pursuing parallel investigations."
During an April 25 drug raid on the home Vick owns in the county, authorities seized 66 dogs, including 55 pit bulls, and equipment that suggested someone at the property was involved in a dogfighting operation.
A search warrant affidavit said some of the dogs were in individual kennels and about 30 were tethered with "heavy logging-type chains" buried in the ground. The chains allowed the dogs to get close to each other, but not to have contact, one of myriad findings on the property that suggested a dogfighting operation.
Vick has claimed he rarely visits the home and was unaware it could be involved in a criminal enterprise. He also has blamed family members for taking advantage of his generosity. Vick's cousin, Davon Boddie, was living at the home at the time of the raids.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
SURRY, Va. -- Federal authorities have filed court documents outlining an alleged dogfighting operation at a property owned by Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, The Associated Press reported Friday.
Vick is not named in the documents.
The documents filed in U.S. District Court in Richmond and obtained Friday by The Associated Press contain the address of the home that has been the center of the investigation.
The filing comes on a day when federal agents searched the wooded property Vick is currently selling in southeastern Virginia on Friday. Fifteen vehicles were on the property, including a rental truck and a Virginia State Police evidence collections truck.
According to the documents, dog fights have been sponsored by "Bad Newz Kennels" at the property since at least 2002. For the events, participants and dogs traveled from South Carolina, North Carolina, Maryland, New York, Texas and other states.
Members of the venture also knowingly transported, delivered and received dogs for animal fighting, the documents state.
Fifty-four animals were recovered from the property during searches in April, along with a "rape stand," used to hold dogs in place for mating; an electric treadmill modified for dogs; and a bloodied piece of carpeting, the documents said.
The property was used as the "main staging area for housing and training the pit bulls involved in the dog fighting venture," according to the filings.
The documents said the fights usually occurred late at night or in the early morning and would last several hours. The winning dog would win from "100's up to 1,000's of dollars," and participants and spectators also would place bets on the fight.
Fights would end when one dog died or the surrender of the losing dog, which was sometimes put to death by drowning, strangulation, hanging, gun shot, electrocution or some other method, according to the documents.
During a June search of the property, investigators uncovered the graves of seven pit bulls that were killed by members of "Bad Newz Kennels" following sessions to test whether dogs would be good fighters, the documents said.
Members of "Bad Newz Kennels" also sponsored and exhibited fights in other parts of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, New Jersey and other states, the filings said.
Friday morning, a U.S. Department of Agriculture agent stationed at the gate on the southeastern Virginia property had no comment, ESPN's Kelly Naqi reported. The USDA is the federal agency with oversight over treatment of domestic animals and investigates dog fighting allegations.
The authorities arrived sometime after 6 a.m. ET.
State and federal investigators concentrated their search looking for dog carcasses allegedly buried somewhere behind the property, according to Naqi. At 1:30 p.m. ET, a backhoe pulled onto the property and began to maneuver by some black outhouses, located behind the main house, and headed further into the woods. Those black houses are where local investigators had found the items listed in the court documents, including the blood-stained carpeting and rape stand.
Portsmouth's WAVY-TV broadcast video of investigators working under a blue tarp on a portion of the property. They were sifting dirt collected in white buckets and clearing brush. Some wore T-shirts with the wording "POLICE."
The property includes a metal gate at the entrance of the large white house and a fence around the perimeter, which obscured the work of investigators.
Corinne Geller, a spokesman for the Virginia State Police, said state authorities were working with federal investigators in an "assistance capacity."
On June 7, federal law enforcement officials descended on the property with a search warrant. More than a dozen vehicles went to the home early that day and investigators searched inside before turning their attention to the area where officials found dozens of dogs in late April and evidence that suggested the home was involved in a dogfighting operation.
Surry County officials had secured a search warrant in late May based on an informant's information to look for as many as 30 dog carcasses buried on the property. The warrant never was executed because Commonwealth's Attorney Gerald G. Poindexter said he had issues with the way it was worded.
The results of that search have remained sealed.
At the time, Poindexter expressed surprise at why the federal government was involved.
"What is foreign to me is the federal government getting into a dogfighting case," Poindexter said. "I know it's been done, but what's driving this? Is it this boy's celebrity? Would they have done this if it wasn't Michael Vick?"
A day later, "They launched a separate, independent federal investigation," Poindexter said of the government, which has had a representative involved in the local probe all along.
"We are just pursuing parallel investigations."
During an April 25 drug raid on the home Vick owns in the county, authorities seized 66 dogs, including 55 pit bulls, and equipment that suggested someone at the property was involved in a dogfighting operation.
A search warrant affidavit said some of the dogs were in individual kennels and about 30 were tethered with "heavy logging-type chains" buried in the ground. The chains allowed the dogs to get close to each other, but not to have contact, one of myriad findings on the property that suggested a dogfighting operation.
Vick has claimed he rarely visits the home and was unaware it could be involved in a criminal enterprise. He also has blamed family members for taking advantage of his generosity. Vick's cousin, Davon Boddie, was living at the home at the time of the raids.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
