Hostile
The Duke
- Messages
- 119,565
- Reaction score
- 4,544
Official declines comment on why authorities are on property
Updated: July 6, 2007, 10:38 AM ET
SURRY, Va. -- A dozen cars and a U-Haul truck were parked Friday on property owned by Falcons quarterback Michael Vick in what appeared to be a second federal raid of the site that has been the focus of a dogfighting probe.
A U.S. Department of Agriculture agent stationed at the gate had no comment, ESPN's Kelly Naqi reported.
Television station WVEC in Hampton Roads, Va., is reporting that an investigator told it that forensics crews are searching only for dog carcasses. It also reported that the Surry County Sheriff's Office is involved in the search.
WVEC is reporting crews began digging early Friday in an area behind Vick's Moonlight Road house near two black sheds, where investigators say they previously found evidence of dogfighting.
The house is in the process of being sold by Vick, according to Naqi.
The USDA is the federal agency with oversight over treatment of domestic animals and investigates dog fighting allegations.
On June 7, federal law enforcement officials descended on a home owned by Vick armed with a search warrant that suggests they're taking over an investigation into the Falcons quarterback's possible involvement in dogfighting.
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, Poindexter said: "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.
Others included a rape stand, used to hold non-receptive dogs in place for mating; an electric treadmill modified to be used by dogs; a "pry bar" used to open the clamped-down mouths of dogs; and a bloodied piece of carpeting the authorities believe was used in dog fights. Carpeting gives dogs traction in a plywood fighting pit.
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.
Updated: July 6, 2007, 10:38 AM ET
SURRY, Va. -- A dozen cars and a U-Haul truck were parked Friday on property owned by Falcons quarterback Michael Vick in what appeared to be a second federal raid of the site that has been the focus of a dogfighting probe.
A U.S. Department of Agriculture agent stationed at the gate had no comment, ESPN's Kelly Naqi reported.
Television station WVEC in Hampton Roads, Va., is reporting that an investigator told it that forensics crews are searching only for dog carcasses. It also reported that the Surry County Sheriff's Office is involved in the search.
WVEC is reporting crews began digging early Friday in an area behind Vick's Moonlight Road house near two black sheds, where investigators say they previously found evidence of dogfighting.
The house is in the process of being sold by Vick, according to Naqi.
The USDA is the federal agency with oversight over treatment of domestic animals and investigates dog fighting allegations.
On June 7, federal law enforcement officials descended on a home owned by Vick armed with a search warrant that suggests they're taking over an investigation into the Falcons quarterback's possible involvement in dogfighting.
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, Poindexter said: "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.
Others included a rape stand, used to hold non-receptive dogs in place for mating; an electric treadmill modified to be used by dogs; a "pry bar" used to open the clamped-down mouths of dogs; and a bloodied piece of carpeting the authorities believe was used in dog fights. Carpeting gives dogs traction in a plywood fighting pit.
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.
