Former Pentagon official pleads guilty to running a brutal dogfighting ring for over two decades
The shocking case has reignited calls for tougher laws to help curb animal fighting crimes, which welfare groups say are “prevalent” across the US.
A file photo of dogs rescued from a suspected dogfighting ring in Florida earlier this year. Credit: ASPCA
A former Pentagon official has pleaded guilty for his role in leading a dogfighting ring in Maryland for over 20 years.
Frederick Douglass Moorfield Jr., who also previously worked as a senior communications staffer for the Department of Defense, admitted to overseeing illegal operations including breeding, training, and fighting dogs, as well as distributing drugs to enhance the dog’s performance.
Moorefield was implicated in the dogfighting ring after federal investigators uncovered videos and evidence related to the fights, including a network of associates involved in its operations.
The ex-senior Pentagon official, who is 63 years old, admitted to his crimes this week as part of a guilty plea, having been arrested last year in October.
Prosecutors had accused Moorefield of training dogs for fighting, gambling on staged battles between dogs, and selling seasoned fighting dogs to others in the dogfighting network. He was also charged with executing poor-performing dogs with battery jumper cables.
The harrowing details included in Moorefield’s guilty plea highlight the horrors of the dogfighting industry which animal welfare groups describe as “prevalent” across the US.
“Repugnant and horrific crimes”
In Moorefield’s “Geehad Kennels”, he would force dogs into a schedule of physical training including treadmills, weighted collars, and other accessories. The dogs would also be given steroids and veterinary drugs.
A file photo of a dog rescued from a suspected dogfighting ring in Florida earlier this year. Credit: ASPCA
During the fights, the fight would only end when either a dog died or when the owner forfeited the dog. In cases where one of Moorefield’s dogs lost a fight but did not die, Moorefield killed the dog. These lethal methods included connecting jumper cables to the injured dog and plugging them directly into an ordinary plug to electrocute the animal to death.
Moorefield now faces a maximum of five years in prison for conspiring to engage in an animal fighting conspiracy, the US Attorney’s Office of Maryland said in a statement.
Animal welfare groups commended the federal government’s investigation and its work in securing a guilty plea, and urged the court to ensure Moorfield’s punishment when he is sentenced in December matches the severity of his crime.
“It’s hard to believe that a high-ranking Department of Defense employee would be involved in such a base and barbaric activity as dogfighting,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy. “But Mr. Moorfield admitted that he was part of a 20-year dogfighting crime network, and we urge a stiff sentence for these repugnant and horrific crimes.”
Moorefield’s government position at the Pentagon along with the horrific details and sustained duration of the dogfighting ring’s operations has resulted in the case receiving considerable attention in the media. It has also led to animal welfare groups to renew calls for more government action and legislation to help tackle animal fighting crimes.
Campaign group Animal Wellness Action say that animal fighting is rampant across the US, and is calling for the passage of the Fighting Inhumane Gambling and High-Risk Trafficking (FIGHT) Act (H.R. 2742 and S. 1529), which would strengthen existing laws prohibiting dogfighting and cockfighting, and enhance enforcement capacity.
According to Animal Wellness Action, the prevalence of animal fighting is so severe that the proposed legislation has already garnered the support of more than 300 national, state, and local law enforcement agencies, including the National Sheriffs’ Association and the National District Attorneys Association.
“The FIGHT Act will do so much to curb animal fighting crimes,” the group’s president said. “It would ban online gambling on animal fights, allow courts to seize fighting pits and other property used by convicted animal fighters in the commission of their crimes, stop the shipment of fighting roosters through the mail, and allow law-abiding citizens to protect their homes and families by bringing civil suits against cockfighters and dogfighters when governmental authorities are too slow to act.”
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