Senior Pentagon official ‘executed’ fighting dogs – prosecutors
A senior Pentagon officer has been charged with participating in a dog fighting ring after police raided his home and found veterinary steroids, blood-stained carpets, and a crude electrical device used to execute animals that lost fights. Five dogs were reportedly taken from his home.
Frederick Douglass Moorefield Jr. and an alleged accomplice were arrested last month and charged with promoting and furthering an animal fighting venture, according to a press release published by the US Department of Justice on Monday. They were released pending trial on Thursday.
According to the press release, Moorefield and his co-defendant used an encrypted messaging app to communicate with other dog-fighting trainers, coordinate bouts, and discuss how to keep their activities hidden from law enforcement. Moorefield used the name “Geehad Kennels” to identify his dog-fighting operation, while the accomplice, named as Mario Damon Flythe, called his operation “Razor Sharp Kennels.”
Law enforcement officers raided Moorefield’s and Flythe’s residences in early September, recovering a total of 12 dogs. Five “pit bull-type dogs” were taken from Moorefield’s property, the Washington Post reported on Monday, citing an FBI affidavit filed in support of the indictment.
A search of Moorefield’s residence also uncovered “veterinary steroids, training schedules, a carpet that appeared to be stained with blood,” and “a device consisting of an electrical plug and jumper cables … used to execute dogs that lose dogfights,” the Justice Department stated.
Prior to his arrest, Moorefield worked as a deputy chief information officer for command, control and communications for the Secretary of Defense’s Chief Information Officer. According to the Pentagon’s website, his position has since been filled by Kevin Mulvihill in an “acting” role.
A Pentagon spokesman told the Washington Post that Moorefield was “no longer in the workplace,” but did not say whether he had been suspended, fired, or pressed to retire.
The FBI had been investigating the dog-fighting ring for several years and nine members were arrested and charged last year, according to the affidavit cited by the Post. Eight of those charged pleaded guilty and cooperated with the investigation, turning over information that showed Moorefield’s involvement in dog-fighting since at least 2002.
Local authorities in Maryland had received complaints about Moorefield and Flythe for years. Animal control officers were alerted in 2018 when two dead dogs were found in a plastic bag near Moorefield’s home along with mail addressed to the former Pentagon official.
