Dec. 13 (UPI) — The Justice Department said Friday former Department of Defense Deputy Chief Frederick Douglass Moorefield Jr. has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for participating in a multi-state dogfighting conspiracy.
The fights brutally abused and killed the dogs, according to the DOJ.
In a statement, the DOJ said, “When Moorefield sponsored a dog in a fight, the fight ended only when a dog died or when the owner forfeited the match — either through the dog ‘quitting’ the fight or the owner ‘picking up’ the dog. If one of Moorefield’s dogs lost a fight but did not die, Moorefield killed the dog.”
The DOJ said he would use jumper cables plugged into an electrical outlet to electrocute the dogs.
When he was charged with the dogfighting crimes, Moorefield was Deputy Chief Information Officer for Command, Control and Communications for the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
Moorefield also was sentenced to a $20,000 fine, six months of home detention and a forfeiture of $21,576.
The dogfighting conspiracy was called the “DMV Board” and it operated in and around Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland.
A search of Moorefield’s home recovered five pit-bull-type dog held in large metal cages in a windowless basement room. The jumper-cable electrocution device was also found in his home.
The investigation of Moorefield started after two dead dogs were found in a plastic dog food bag in Annapolis, Maryland in November 2022.
The DOJ said investigators found mail addressed to Moorefield in the bag and the dog bodies bore wounds and scarring consistent with dogfighting.
In separate Texas case, a guilty plea
In a separate dogfighting case, the DOJ said Friday Jesus Allen Stephens of Waskom, Texas, pleaded guilty to felony dogfighting charges.
He pleaded guilty to conspiracy, sponsoring and exhibiting a dog in a dogfight and possessing a dog for dogfighting purposes.
He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count.
The DOJ said in a statement, “According to court documents, Stephens organized and hosted a large-scale dogfighting event on family-owned property in Harrison County, Texas, on Nov. 13, 2021. Stephens and others arranged to fight dogs at the event for gambling and entertainment purposes.”
The fight drew people from other states.
According to the DOJ, when law enforcement disrupted the event, they found “a dogfighting pit structure, a severely injured dog and other dogfighting evidence.”
Several pit bull-type dogs were found at properties owned by Stephens along with other dogfighting evidence.
It’s illegal under federal law to fight dogs in a venture that crosses state lines affecting interstate commerce. It’s also illegal to train, transport, deliver, sell, purchase to receive dogs for fighting purposes.