Feds may take over Vick dogfighting probe

[Guest guest]

Moderator's Comment. Note the reference to " ...this boy's celebrity, " an

obvious attempt to make Vick seem innocuous and homey. How dumb do they think

we are?

 

******

 

Feds may take over Vick dogfighting probe

 

Virginia house belonging to QB searched, but local officials peeved

 

The Associated Press

 

Updated: 8:14 p.m. ET June 7, 2007

 

SURRY, Va. - Federal law enforcement officials descended on a home owned by

Michael Vick on Thursday armed with a search warrant that suggests they are

taking over an investigation into the Falcons' quarterback's possible

involvement in dogfighting.

 

More than a dozen vehicles went to the home early in the afternoon 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.

 

That search warrant expired Thursday.

 

" 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? " ?

 

Poindexter said he was " absolutely floored " ? that federal officials got

involved, and that he believes he and Sheriff Harold D. Brown handled the

investigation properly.

 

" Apparently these people want it, " ? Poindexter said. " They want it, and I

don't believe they want it because of the serious criminal consequences

involved. ... They want it because Michael Vick may be involved. " ?

 

Poindexter said he found out about a sealed search warrant filed in the U.S.

Attorney's office about the time federal investigators executed it Thursday.

 

" If they've made a judgment that we're not acting prudently and with dispatch

based on what we have, they've not acting very wisely, " ? Poindexter said.

 

He said Surry County officials were preparing another search warrant for the

property and that the investigative team planned to meet to make sure they

had all the experts needed to make the search most effective.

 

" There's a larger thing here, and it has nothing to do with any breach of

protocol, " ? Poindexter said. " There's something awful going on here. I don't

know if it's racial. I don't know what it is. "

 

State police assisted investigators from the U.S. Department of Agriculture

and the U.S. Attorney's office in executing the warrant, Virginia State

Police Sgt. D.S. Carr said, declining to comment further.

 

Thursday evening, a state police evidence collection truck was parked inside

the fence surrounding the house. Investigators could be seen carrying a large

sheet of plywood and a box.

 

The U.S. Attorney's office would not confirm a search warrant was filed.

 

Messages left at Brown's office were not returned, and a dispatcher said he

left for the day at around 4 p.m.

 

An after-hours call to Vick's attorney, Larry Woodward of Virginia Beach, was

not immediately returned.

 

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.

 

Vick, a registered dog breeder, has said in more recent interviews that his

lawyers have advised him not to discuss the investigation.

 

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be

published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19101720/from/ET/