Animal Groups Celebrate Guilty Plea of Dogfighting Pentagon Official

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Leaders of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy applauded the federal government for charging and securing a guilty plea from former Pentagon official and Department of Defense senior communications staffer Frederick Douglass Moorefield Jr. for leading a dogfighting ring in Maryland for over 20 years.

Moorefield, who had served as a senior Pentagon official, admitted to overseeing the illegal operations that included breeding, training, and fighting dogs, as well as distributing drugs to enhance their performance. His involvement was revealed after a federal investigation that uncovered videos and evidence related to the fights, along with a network of associates participating in the illegal activity.

“It’s hard to believe that a high-ranking Department of Defense employee would be involved in such a base and barbaric activity as dogfighting,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy. “But Mr. Moorfield admitted that he was part of a 20-year dogfighting crime network, and we urge a stiff sentence for these repugnant and horrific crimes.”

Moorefield was accused of violating the Animal Welfare Act and conspiring to violate federal drug laws. In his plea agreement, he acknowledged that the dogfighting operations led to the suffering of numerous animals, some of which had to be euthanized due to their injuries. Prosecutors emphasized the severity of Moorefield's actions, given his position within the defense community, highlighting the breach of trust he represented. Following his guilty plea, Moorefield is scheduled for sentencing, where he faces significant prison time. The case underscores the ongoing battle against animal cruelty and the need for stringent enforcement of animal welfare laws.

The former high-ranking Department of Defense official became headline news last October after it was discovered he had been part of a dogfighting operation that spanned two decades. He allegedly trained dogs for fighting out of “Geehad Kennels,” gambled on staged battles between dogs, sold seasoned fighting dogs and their offspring to others in the criminal network, and executed dogs who didn’t die during matches with jumper cables, according to court records.

Agents from the FBI and USDA’s Office of the Inspector General found weighted collars and heavy metal chains often used for strengthening the dogs at his home, along with scarred fighting dogs in cages, battery jumper cables, carpets colored red with the spilled blood of mangled animals, and “an apparatus that is used for involuntarily inseminating female dogs.”

Animal Wellness Action and the Center are leading advocates for the passage of the Fighting Inhumane Gambling and High-Risk Trafficking (FIGHT) Act (H.R. 2742 and S. 1529). Officials there say it is critical legislation that addresses a pervasive and deeply troubling issue: the rampant and barbaric practice of animal fighting, which is inextricably linked to a host of other serious crimes.

The prevalence of animal fighting is so severe that it has garnered the support of more than 300 national, state, and local law enforcement agencies, including the National Sheriffs' Association and the National District Attorneys Association. 

“The FIGHT Act will do so much to curb animal fighting crimes,” Pacelle said. “It would ban online gambling on animal fights, allow courts to seize fighting pits and other property used by convicted animal fighters in the commission of their crimes, stop the shipment of fighting roosters through the mail, and allow law-abiding citizens to protect their homes and families by bringing civil suits against cockfighters and dogfighters when governmental authorities are too slow to act.”

A fact sheet on the FIGHT Act can be found here.