NY: Senior Pentagon official ran vicious dogfighting ring

New York

Senior Pentagon official ran vicious dogfighting ring — and executed losers with jumper cables: feds
By Caitlin Doornbos
Published Oct. 3, 2023, 2:34 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON — A senior Defense Department official ran a vicious dogfighting ring — and used jumper cables to execute animals that lost in the savage battles, according to recently released court documents.

Frederick Douglass Moorefield Jr., 62, the Pentagon’s deputy chief information officer for command, control, and communications, is charged with “promoting and furthering animal fighting venture,” the Maryland US Attorney’s Office announced Monday

The investigation into Moorefield — who named his dogfighting business “Geehad Kennels,” an apparent homophone for “jihad” — began in 2018 when Anne Arundel County Animal Control discovered the bodies of two dogs in plastic bags that included mail addressed to his Arnold, Md., home, according to a recently unsealed affidavit in the case.

“The distribution and number of recent and healed dog bite wounds (scars) present on both dogs was consistent with organized dogfighting,” an FBI agent wrote in the affidavit. “Based on this information, I believe that Moorefield sponsored each of these dogs in a dogfight.”

Veterinary medical examiners were unable to determine the dogs’ causes of death, but the investigator believes Moorefield killed them himself if they did not die in a fight, according to the report.

“Individuals who sponsor dogs for dogfighting often kill dogs that lose a fight, and as a result of these fights, I believe the dogs were killed during the fight or that Moorefield killed each of them afterwards for performing poorly,” the investigator added.

Esteemed career
Moorefield is accused of being involved in dogfighting throughout his career as a civilian employee for the Defense Department, which began in October 2008 when he was hired as director of strategic planning for the Air Force Spectrum Management Office, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Since then, he has held various Pentagon leadership positions before taking on his current role in March 2020. He also served nine years in the Air Force before leaving the service in 1998, according to the profile.

Pentagon spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Tim Gorman confirmed that the DOD is “aware of the criminal complaint” but declined to say whether Moorefield remained employed in his position.

“We can confirm that the individual is no longer in the workplace, but we cannot comment further on an individual personnel matter,” Gorman said.

In his current position, Moorefield “provides technical expertise, oversight and broad guidance on policy, programmatic, and technical issues” relating to worldwide military communication networks and “advises on efforts to achieve and maintain information dominance for the Department of Defense,” according to the affidavit.
The FBI agent wrote, “He manages efforts defining Department of Defense policies and strategies for design, architecture … and sustainment of critical command and control and communications for non-nuclear strategic strike (and) integrated missile defense.”

Moorefield’s involvement in dogfighting dates back more than two decades before prosecutors filed charges against him Sept. 26, the investigator alleged.

In a search of his cellphone, investigators discovered Moorefield listed at least 18 dogs on a dogfighting pedigree website dating back to “at least 2002.”

Brutal evidence
In a Sept. 6 search of his home, the FBI discovered “five pit bull-type dogs” kept in small, thick metal cages in a “windowless room in the unfinished portion of (his) basement,” according to the affidavit.
“The room holding the seized dogs contained items generally used to train dogs for fighting, including
weighted collars and heavy metal chains,” the investigator wrote. “Agents observed an apparatus that
is used for involuntarily inseminating female dogs.”

Investigators also found “a device consisting of jumper cables attached to an electrical plug … used to electrocute a dog after losing a fight,” the ends of which where covered in dog hair and blood, according to the affidavit.

During the search, Moorefield admitted to using the “Geehad” alias, and said his barber had been watching his dogs the previous weekend, authorities said. He also allegedly falsely told investigators that animal control authorities had already visited his home and observed his dogs.

To support his dogfighting operation, Moorefield is accused of placing his dogs on treadmills, feeding them performance-enhancing drugs such as steroids and specialized dog food and strapping them into weighted vests embroidered with the name “Geehad Kennels,” according to the report.

“In Moorefield’s iCloud account, I found multiple photographs taken in or around March 2023 of what appear to be fighting dogs in cages and/or wearing weighted collars consistent with those used to train fighting dogs,” the agent wrote.

In encrypted messages, Moorefield reportedly conspired with associates to plan dogfights, referring to his female dogs as “hoes.” He also spoke about refereeing other dogfights in Baltimore.

FBI agents also discovered bloodstains from dogfights held at Moorefield’s home, as well as syringes and a medical staple gun meant for closing wounds.

Several of the fights lasted more than an hour, with some of his dogs killing their competitors in the matches. The despicable fights also took place in multiple states, including Maryland and New Jersey, and involved bets of at least $1,500, according to messages investigators discovered on his iPhone.

Charges filed
Moorefield faces charges of participating in, promotion of and conspiracy to participate in an animal fighting venture, as well as interstate travel “in aid of racketeering enterprises,” according to the complaint.

Prosecutors also accused Moorefield’s Glen Burnie, Md.-based barber, Mario Damon Flythe, 49, of the same charges in the case after investigators discovered conspiratorial messages on the DOD official’s phone.

During a search, investigators seized seven dogs from Flythe’s property — at least one of which he admitted was a puppy Moorefield had bred and given to him. Agents also discovered dogfighting paraphernalia including “weighted collars” and a treadmill at the barber’s home.

Four of Flythe’s dogs of various breeds appeared underfed, kept outdoors in fenced enclosures. Another three were apparently kept in small metal cages that appeared similar to those in which Moorefield kept his dogs.

During the search, Flythe admitted to participating in dogfighting “in the past” and confirmed that the equipment that agents found was used “to exercise his dogs,” according to the affidavit.

He reportedly told investigators he had been friends with Moorefield — with whom investigators discovered he shared more than 730 phone calls between April 2022 and 2023 — for more than a decade.

The barber and DOD official reportedly met through the dogfighting community.

If convicted, the two would face a maximum sentence of five years in prison, according to prosecutors. They are currently out of custody but remain under supervision.

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