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Case ID: 1831
Classification: Fighting
Animal: dog (pit-bull)
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NFL football player involved in dog-fighting
Skiatook, OK (US)

Incident Date: Wednesday, Feb 12, 2003
County: Osage

Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Not Charged

Persons of Interest:
» LeShon Johnson - Alleged
» Michelle Johnson - Alleged

Case Updates: 2 update(s) available

After Osage County sheriff's deputies raided a reported organized dog fight at the home of a professional New York Giants running back football player near Sperry, prosecutors are still mulling whether to file criminal charges.

District Attorney Larry Stuart said he hasn't studied the sheriff's reports and it would be wrong to assume there was a dog fight.

Citations were written to 14 people during the Feb. 12 raid at the home of LeShon and Michelle Johnson, Sheriff Russell Cottle said. There were wounded pit bull terriers in a blood-spattered barn and some 70 dogs staked in the� nearby woods, according to a report filed by Deputy Lou Ann Brown. The lack of action by prosecutors has some neighbors upset, said Bob McIntyre, a nearby convenience store owner.

McIntyre said that weeks before the law enforcement raid, neighbors had asked authorities to investigate because� they suspected dog fights on the property.

"Besides concern over animal cruelty, they (residents) were�� afraid some youth taking a walk in the woods would run into� the pit bulls staked there," McIntyre said.

Nicole Gray of Dallas, Texas, said she sold the property in� January to the Johnsons. It includes 11 acres with a home, a guest house with garage and a barn with stalls.

The tickets were written when sheriff's deputies, an Oklahoma Highway Patrol officer and a Skiatook police�� officer responded to a tip that there was a pit bull fight in� progress at the home of Johnson, a New York Giants running back from Haskell.�

�When deputies arrived about 11:40 p.m., several people�� "scattered like a covey of quail" and ran into the woods, Cottle said.

Nine people were rounded up by deputies while they were hiding in vehicles and outbuildings. An unknown number of people escaped, the report said.

Johnson was found inside the residence. His wife was outside the door of an outbuilding with a wounded pit bull, according to the sheriff and the report. Both denied� involvement, Cottle said.�� "They (Johnsons) weren't given tickets, but we turned in our� report and they (prosecutors) may be looking at charges� against him (Johnson) because it was his place," Cottle� said. "I don't know what's going on at that (prosecution)� end; we did our job."

Also according to the sheriff's report, deputies saw blood� spots on a center isle of the barn and a dog in a pen bleeding.

There were several vehicles parked at the residence. Many of them had portable dog kennels and license tags from Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Tulsa, the sheriff said.

Meanwhile, Stuart has turned the case over to his assistant, Rene Henry, to review the case for possible prosecution. Henry has not returned repeated phone calls.

If the district attorney's office decides to develop the� citations as misdemeanors, those ticketed could face $500� fines or up to a year in jail. The penalties for hosting a dog fight are more severe.

Garl Willis, lead investigator with the Tulsa police department's animal control division, said organizing dog� fights is a felony. Upon conviction, the sentence can range� up to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.

Willis said he only investigates dog-fighting incidents within the Tulsa city limits.

"I think it (pit bull fighting) is more of a macho thing," Willis� said, "that and the large amounts of money involved. I don't understand how people can be involved in gathering to� watch two dogs tear each other apart."

Willis said investigators can confiscate all vehicles,� equipment and the dogs themselves if they suspect a dog� fight has been held.


Case Updates

Prosecutors ultimately declined to file criminal charges after Osage County sheriff's deputies raided a reported organized dog fight at the home of New York Giants running back LeShon Johnson on February 12, 2003.

According to Sheriff Russell Cottle, authorities raided the home of LeShon and Michelle Johnson, near Sperry, Oklahoma, in February 2003. There were wounded pit bull terriers in a blood-spattered barn and some 70 dogs staked in the nearby woods, according to a report filed by Deputy Lou Ann Brown. The lack of action by prosecutors upset neighbors, said Bob McIntyre, a nearby store owner, at the time.

McIntyre said that weeks before the law enforcement raid, neighbors had asked authorities to investigate because they suspected dog fights on the property.

Johnson was found inside the residence, and his wife was near an outbuilding with a wounded pit bull, according to the sheriff's report. The report was subsequently forwarded to the District Attorney's office for review. Sheriff Cottle said at the time, "I don't know what's going on at that (prosecution) end; we did our job."

According to the Osage County Court clerk, no court records exist related to this incident.

When reached by telephone, District Attorney Larry Stuart said, "the decision was made not to file criminal charges". No further explanation was given.

Stuart previously deferred prosecution on dog-fighting charges against Johnson in February 2000, on the condition that he get rid of his dogs and stay away from dog fights. Despite this fact, no charges were filed after the 2003 raid.

Regarding his May 2004 dog-fighting arrest in Hughes County, on December 20, 2005, Johnson pled guilty to felony charges of possessing dogs for the purpose of fighting, encouraging dogs to fight, and facilitating a dog fight. As part of a plea agreement on that case, Johnson's sentence was deferred; he was placed on 5 years probation, and was ordered to pay fines and restitution.
Source: Osage County District Attorney's Office
Update posted on May 22, 2008 - 8:18PM 
Testimony linking former National Football League player Leshon Johnson to an illegal dogfighting operation was aired Wednesday as a preliminary hearing opened for Johnson and two co-defendants.

Johnson, a former draft pick of the Green Bay Packers, is charged with dogfighting, racketeering and conspiracy. He allegedly owned dozens of pit bulldogs, many of which eventually had to be destroyed.

Johnson could face 10 years in prison if he is convicted. He was arrested in May on the Hughes County complaints as part of a sweep netting 20 suspects, reports show.

Testimony against Johnson; his brother Luther Johnson; and Shevetta Lee, Luther's girlfriend, focused on their alleged involvement in an extensive dogfighting operation, prosecutors said.

A member of a drug task force, Mitch Smith, testified about finding documents related to dogfighting at Johnson's home in Tulsa on July 9. Others testified about finding 14 and 54 dogs, respectively, at Johnson's and Lee's purported residences in McIntosh County.

Osage County Sheriff Wes Penland also testified about Leshon Johnson's 2000 arrest on dogfighting allegations. Johnson received a deferred prosecution in that case on the condition that he get rid of his dogs and stay away from fights, reports show.

Johnson was a star running back at Haskell High School in the 1980s and also played at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M in Miami. He transferred to Northern Illinois and finished sixth in the 1993 Heisman Trophy voting after leading the nation in rushing.

He was drafted by the NFL's Green Bay Packers in 1994 and was with them that year and in 1995. Johnson also played for the Arizona Cardinals and New York Giants before ending his career in the XFL.

The preliminary hearing will continue Nov. 18.
Source: Duluth News Tribune - Oct 27, 2004
Update posted on Oct 29, 2004 - 4:51PM 

References


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