High-ranking defense official sentenced for leading Maryland dogfighting ring for 20 years

BALTIMORE - A former top official in the Department of Defense was sentenced to 18 months in prison, followed by six months of home detention, after he admitted to running a dogfighting ring in Maryland for 20 years, according to our media partner The Baltimore Banner.

Frederick Moorefield Jr., from Arnold, Maryland, pleaded guilty in September to dogfighting and racketeering.

Moorefield has been the Deputy Chief Information Officer for Command, Control and Communications for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. 

According to the Banner, Moorefield was trusted with keeping the nation's secrets and protecting troops around the globe.  

The dogfighting investigation

As part of his guilty plea, Moorefield admitted to operating the dogfighting ring under the name "Geehad Kennels"' and that he electrocuted dogs that lost fights using jumper cables. 

According to the guilty plea, federal agents began investigating Moorefield after Anne Arundel County Animal Control found two dead dogs in a plastic dog food bag in Annapolis in 2018. Investigators say mail addressed to Moorefield was in the bag and the dogs had wounds consistent with dogfighting. 

According to court documents, Moorefield was affiliated with a dogfighting enterprise known as the "DMV Board," which operated in and around Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.  

Investigators said Moorefield used his home in Arnold to train and breed dogs for dogfighting for more than two decades. 

When agents searched his home, they recovered five dogs from metal cages in a windowless room of Moorefield's basement, as well as veterinary drugs, the jumper cable device, and a carpet stained with blood.