The Black man who served as a Pentagon deputy chief information officer is accused of running a Maryland dogfighting ring in which losing canines suffered a penalty more cruel than defeat — being electrocuted with jumper cables.
Frederick Douglass Moorefield Jr., 62, of Arnold, Md., has been charged with “promoting and furthering animal-fighting venture,” by the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office. He and another defendant, Mario Damon Flythe, 49, of Glen Burnie, Md., face five years in prison if convicted of possessing, training or transporting animals for participation in an animal-fighting venture.
According to a statement from the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, Moorefield and Flythe used an encrypted messaging app to communicate with individuals throughout the United States to discuss dogfighting and thousands of dollars in bets on the animals. Moorefield used the name “Geehad Kennels” and Flythe used the name “Razor Sharp Kennels” to identify their respective dogfighting operations.
The charges are reminiscent of the dog fighting scandal that nearly destroyed the football career of former Atlanta Falcons quarterback, Michael Vick, who traveled the nation. Vick, who lost millions of dollars in salary, served two years in prison, and used such cross-country campaigns as intentional steps to rehabilitate his image.
Moorefield, a Deputy Chief Information Officer for Command, Control, and Communications for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, apparently has lost his job, though the Pentagon was tight-lipped about anything else. In a statement, the Pentagon acknowledged the criminal complaint against Moorefield and confirmed that “the individual is no longer in the workplace, but we cannot comment further on an individual personnel matter.”
Federal law enforcement officials executed a warrant at the homes of Moorefield and Flythe in September and said they recovered 12 dogs, veterinary steroids, training schedules, a carpet that appeared to be stained with blood, and a weighted dog vest with a patch reading “Geehad Kennels.” They also seized a device consisting of an electrical plug and jumper cables, which officers say is consistent with devices used to execute dogs that lose dogfights.
The charges are the result of an investigation that began in 2018, when Anne Arundel County Animal Control found the bodies of two dogs in plastic bags six miles from Moorefield’s residence, bags that also contained mail addressed to Moorefield.
Though the investigation has taken five years, investigators allege that Moorefield has been involved with dogfighting a lot longer than that — dating back more than 20 years.
