Blame the family if all else fails

[Unchained]

SURRY, Va. (AP) -- Federal agents investigating possible dogfighting searched property owned by Michael Vick today.

Portsmouth's WAVY-TV broadcast video of investigators working under a blue tarp on a portion of Vick's wooded property in southeastern Virginia. They were sifting dirt collected in white buckets and clearing brush.

Some wore T-shirts with the wording "POLICE."

CNN confirmed the search, but Surry County officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Vick -- the Atlanta Falcons quarterback -- has said he rarely visited the property, which includes a house. No charges have been filed.

During an April 25 drug raid at the property, authorities seized 66 dogs, including 55 pit bulls, and equipment commonly used in dogfighting. The search warrant affidavit says about half the dogs were tethered to car axles with heavy chains that allowed the dogs to get close to each other, but not to have contact -- an arrangement typical for fighting dogs.

Later, after an informant suggested authorities could find as many as 30 dogs buried on the property, including seven buried only days before the initial raid. Surry County officials secured a search warrant, but never acted on it because prosecutor Gerald Poindexter said he had concerns with the document.

Vick has said he had no idea the property may have been used in a criminal enterprise and blamed family members for taking advantage of his generosity. He also put the house up for sale and reportedly sold it quickly.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[SWVA-Football]

LMAO, fish sure do flop but this is something else.

[1inStripes]

I guess he only visited it at night and never saw the buildings, or the insane number of chained up dogs or heard them.

[burton2019]

According to vthokie Vick is innocent. Both of them. I'll have to wait to hear his thoughts before I make judgment. [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif[/img]

[StateChamps92]

The Vicks are a blackeye to the NFL. Just like T.O. and Randy Moss! We need the Dan Marino's and Jim Kelly's back, people that do stuff for sick kids and the community. These people are icons to our youth, yet they seem to act with reckless abandonment.

[GCVOL1]

Well when you got the base kickin and bling bling jinglin its hard to hear anything let a lone a pack of 60 or so crazied fighting dogs chained to car axles and not being fed..if you can blow a .078 and get released wonder what the NFL does with killer dog trainers? er uh NFL QBs with killer dog trainers living on your property that you NEVER go to. Yeah sounds good to me Mike go play ball now makes lots of money....One of these "professional organizations" will eventually set a standard...naw probably not..

[imported_blue52]

Speaking of sick kids, about a week ago I saw a show on ESPN about a kid tha was sick but had recovered. They took him to eat in New Orleans and Drew Brees comes out from the behind the counter and he ends up getting to spend the day with Brees.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: blue52</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Speaking of sick kids, about a week ago I saw a show on ESPN about a kid tha was sick but had recovered. They took him to eat in New Orleans and Drew Brees comes out from the behind the counter and he ends up getting to spend the day with Brees. </div></div> Another one of those fairy tails...I bet you let your daddy use your computer ,too. Darn uncontrolllllable kids.

[GCVOL1]

http://content.hamptonroads.com/stor...=14921&tref=po

[Unchained]

SURRY COUNTY -- Federal prosecutors say they have evidence -- including 17 dog carcasses -- that Michael Vick's rural Surry County property hosted a dogfighting operation called "Bad Newz Kennels" from 2002 to 2007, according to federal court documents filed this week and a source close to the investigation.

Vick, the former Virginia Tech football star and quarterback of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons, is not named in the federal papers, but the address of the home he owns, 1915 Moonlight Road, Smithfield, is under investigation for dogfighting and is mentioned throughout.

On Friday, federal investigators, accompanied by the state police and a local sheriff's deputy, descended on the property for the second time in the past month with a search warrant looking for dog carcasses. In their first search, on June 7, federal investigators found the remains of seven pit bull dogs who were killed by members of "Bad Newz Kennels," according to the federal complaint filed this week.

Federal agents executed their first warrant after Surry County Prosecutor Gerald Poindexter refused to execute a local search for dog carcasses, citing concerns over wording in a sheriff deputy's warrant.

Poindexter, who is on vacation in Louisiana, said he was unaware of Friday's search and was still pursuing what he called a parallel investigation.

In Friday's search, which lasted at least eight hours and involved a backhoe and a U-Haul truck to collect evidence, investigators removed more than 10 carcasses buried in shallow graves, a source close to the investigation said.

"They found what they were looking for," he said.

Investigators were digging in an area about 50 yards behind the large, white house on the property. About 15 people could be seen on the property, which included kennels and outbuildings. The expansive property has a metal gate at the entrance and a fence around the perimeter, which obscured the work of investigators. Fifteen vehicles were on the property, including the rental truck and a Virginia State Police evidence collection truck.

Corinne Geller, a spokeswoman for the Virginia State Police, said state authorities were working with federal investigators in an "assistance capacity."

The dogfights at the property involved bets that ranged in the thousands of dollars and featured dogs from as far away as Texas and New York, according to the documents filed in U.S. District Court in Richmond.

Before fights, the participating dogs of the same sex would be weighed and bathed, according to the filings. Opposing dogs would be washed to remove any poison or narcotic placed on the dog's coat that could affect the other dog's performance. Sometimes participants would not feed a dog before the fight to "make it more hungry for the other dog," the documents said.

The fights usually happened late at night or early in the morning, sometimes involved two or three matches and lasted several hours, generally until one dog died or surrendered, the complaint alleges. Sometimes at the end of the fight, the losing dog was drowned, strangled, hanged, shot or electrocuted, the document said.

Vick, a Newport News native, has denied any knowledge of dogfighting at his Surry County property and said he was rarely at the house where his cousin was living when the investigation began. His attorney, Lawrence Woodward Jr., declined to comment Friday.

Vick has said he had no idea the property may have been used in a criminal enterprise and blamed family members for taking advantage of his generosity. He also put the house up for sale and reportedly sold it quickly, although there is no record that the sale has closed.

The federal document that describes "Bad Newz Kennels" was filed in court this week so federal authorities could take custody of the 53 pit bulls seized from the Moonlight Road property by local authorities in late April. The dogs were taken to various animal shelters in the region.

James Knorr, a special agent with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the Inspector General, vouched for the veracity of the information in the complaint.

The complaint says the Moonlight Road property was the "main staging area for housing and training the pit bulls" involved in the dogfighting operation, and that it hosted fights involving dogs from visiting kennels. Over the years, the "Bad Newz Kennels" also bought several fighting dogs that had traveled in interstate commerce from throughout the country, including South Carolina, North Carolina, Maryland, New York, Florida, Arizona and Texas, according to the complaint.

No criminal charges have been filed in the case.

Local Surry County investigators began investigating possible dogfighting at the property in late April, when a search for drugs involving Vick's cousin found more than 50 pit bulls and several items associated with dogfighting.

Sheriff Harold Brown, who was out of the office and unavailable for comment Friday, said as recently as last week that the local investigation was still active, and that charges could come when the county's grand jury next convenes July 24.

Poindexter has publicly questioned the federal government's interest in a dogfighting case. He suggested that Vick's celebrity was the draw, and raised race as a possible motivation as well. Poindexter and Vick are black, as is Brown.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.