Feds execute search warrant on Vick's Virginia home

[BP]

SURRY, Va. (AP) - Federal law enforcement officials descended on a home owned by Michael Vick on Thursday armed with a search warrant that suggests they're taking over an investigation into the Falcons quarterback's possible involvement in dogfighting.

More than a dozen vehicles went to the home early in the afternoon and investigators searched inside before turning their attention to the area where officials found dozens of dogs in late April and evidence that suggested the home was involved in a dogfighting operation.

Surry County officials had secured a search warrant in late May based on an informant's information to look for as many as 30 dog carcasses buried on the property. The warrant never was executed because Commonwealth's Attorney Gerald G. Poindexter said he had issues with the way it was worded.

That search warrant expired Thursday.

"What is foreign to me is the federal government getting into a dogfighting case," Poindexter said. "I know it's been done, but what's driving this? Is it this boy's celebrity? Would they have done this if it wasn't Michael Vick?"

Poindexter said he was "absolutely floored" that federal officials got involved, and that he believes he and Sheriff Harold D. Brown handled the investigation properly.

"Apparently these people want it," Poindexter said. "They want it, and I don't believe they want it because of the serious criminal consequences involved. ... They want it because Michael Vick may be involved."

Poindexter said he found out about a sealed search warrant filed in the U.S. Attorney's office about the time federal investigators executed it Thursday.

"If they've made a judgment that we're not acting prudently and with dispatch based on what we have, they've not acting very wisely," Poindexter said.

He said Surry County officials were preparing another search warrant for the property and that the investigative team planned to meet to make sure they had all the experts needed to make the search most effective.

"There's a larger thing here, and it has nothing to do with any breach of protocol," Poindexter said. "There's something awful going on here. I don't know if it's racial. I don't know what it is."

State police assisted investigators from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Attorney's office in executing the warrant, Virginia State Police Sgt. D.S. Carr said, declining to comment further.

Thursday evening, a state police evidence collection truck was parked inside the fence surrounding the house. Investigators could be seen carrying a large sheet of plywood and a box.

The U.S. Attorney's office would not confirm a search warrant was filed.

Messages left at Brown's office were not returned, and a dispatcher said he left for the day at around 4 p.m.

An after-hours call to Vick's attorney, Larry Woodward of Virginia Beach, was not immediately returned.

During an April 25 drug raid on the home Vick owns in the county, authorities seized 66 dogs, including 55 pit bulls, and equipment that suggested someone at the property was involved in a dogfighting operation.

A search warrant affidavit said some of the dogs were in individual kennels and about 30 were tethered with "heavy logging-type chains" buried in the ground. The chains allowed the dogs to get close to each other, but not to have contact, one of myriad findings on the property that suggested a dogfighting operation.

Others included a rape stand, used to hold non-receptive dogs in place for mating; an electric treadmill modified to be used by dogs; a "pry bar" used to open the clamped-down mouths of dogs; and a bloodied piece of carpeting the authorities believe was used in dog fights. Carpeting gives dogs traction in a plywood fighting pit.

Vick has claimed he rarely visits the home and was unaware it could be involved in a criminal enterprise. He also has blamed family members for taking advantage of his generosity. Vick's cousin, Davon Boddie, was living at the home at the time of the raids.

Vick, a registered dog breeder, has said in more recent interviews that his lawyers have advised him not to discuss the investigation.

link

[BP]

A search warrant affidavit said some of the dogs were in individual kennels and about 30 were tethered with "heavy logging-type chains" buried in the ground. The chains allowed the dogs to get close to each other, but not to have contact, one of myriad findings on the property that suggested a dogfighting operation.

Others included a rape stand, used to hold non-receptive dogs in place for mating; an electric treadmill modified to be used by dogs; a "pry bar" used to open the clamped-down mouths of dogs; and a bloodied piece of carpeting the authorities believe was used in dog fights. Carpeting gives dogs traction in a plywood fighting pit.

Wow, they found all this and his lawyer is already pulling the race card.

[Arsis]

rape stand? what a horrible name for something just as horrible.

[crackbackblock]

Wow, they found all this and his lawyer is already pulling the race card.

Yeah, the race card thrown out there already. All the "rumors" about Vick and dog fighting must be pretty accurate.

[rick34125]

When you listen to Poindexter speak it almost sounds like he's being paid off to stall and/or botch up this investigation. I wonder how much he makes?

[ShadowJet35]

It's not as much racial as it is people not minding their own fuggin' business.

I know you might be seeing me as Clinton Portis. But seriously, does any of this affect our lives? Are any of us Falcon Fans?(besides sirspeez)... Is whether or not he is guilty going to help put food on our table?

Seriously, people, mind your damn business and go on with your lives. Jebus christ.

[BP]

It's not as much racial as it is people not minding their own fuggin' business.

I know you might be seeing me as Clinton Portis. But seriously, does any of this affect our lives? Are any of us Falcon Fans?(besides sirspeez)... Is whether or not he is guilty going to help put food on our table?

Seriously, people, mind your damn business and go on with your lives. Jebus christ.

Good lord

Vick is a public figure, like it or not. so he gets bad news and good news in public. are we only suppose to listen to the good things about Michael Vick because you say so?

[jetophile]

It's not as much racial as it is people not minding their own fuggin' business.

I know you might be seeing me as Clinton Portis. But seriously, does any of this affect our lives? Are any of us Falcon Fans?(besides sirspeez)... Is whether or not he is guilty going to help put food on our table?

Seriously, people, mind your damn business and go on with your lives. Jebus christ.

Wow. Almost speechless. Me, almost speechless. Mark that on your calendar. Not to infantilize you, but you just don't get it. I'm almost moved to think you're kidding.

[ECURB]

It's not as much racial as it is people not minding their own fuggin' business.

I know you might be seeing me as Clinton Portis. But seriously, does any of this affect our lives? Are any of us Falcon Fans?(besides sirspeez)... Is whether or not he is guilty going to help put food on our table?

Seriously, people, mind your damn business and go on with your lives. Jebus christ.

Wow...

You need to seriously re-evaluate your position...

[MasonJet]

It's not as much racial as it is people not minding their own fuggin' business.

I know you might be seeing me as Clinton Portis. But seriously, does any of this affect our lives? Are any of us Falcon Fans?(besides sirspeez)... Is whether or not he is guilty going to help put food on our table?

Seriously, people, mind your damn business and go on with your lives. Jebus christ.

Wow. Worst potw nom.

We have these things called laws. If a person breaks them they will be punished for doing so. I think a 1st grader understands this.

[vinnys025]

It's not as much racial as it is people not minding their own fuggin' business.

I know you might be seeing me as Clinton Portis. But seriously, does any of this affect our lives? Are any of us Falcon Fans?(besides sirspeez)... Is whether or not he is guilty going to help put food on our table?

Seriously, people, mind your damn business and go on with your lives. Jebus christ.

1- Vick is an NFL Icon, and they market him as such.

2- This is extremely unethical, if you don't find something wrong with this you need to check yourself in the mirror someday.

3- ITS A FELONY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MasonJet]

1- Vick is an NFL Icon, and they market him as such.

2- This is extremely unethical, if you don't find something wrong with this you need to check yourself in the mirror someday.

3- ITS A FELONY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think you're 3rd point is the most important one. I'm just hoping ShadowJet forgot that fact.

[Alk]

Wow, they found all this and his lawyer is already pulling the race card.

He needs a new lawyer. This guy obviously doesn't know when to hold em' and when to fold em'. Dude's no Kenny Rogers that's for sure.

[Thai Jet]

It's not as much racial as it is people not minding their own fuggin' business.

I know you might be seeing me as Clinton Portis. But seriously, does any of this affect our lives? Are any of us Falcon Fans?(besides sirspeez)... Is whether or not he is guilty going to help put food on our table?

Seriously, people, mind your damn business and go on with your lives. Jebus christ.

Sadly you are serious with this post.

[BornJetsFan1983]

It's not as much racial as it is people not minding their own fuggin' business.

I know you might be seeing me as Clinton Portis. But seriously, does any of this affect our lives? Are any of us Falcon Fans?(besides sirspeez)... Is whether or not he is guilty going to help put food on our table?

Seriously, people, mind your damn business and go on with your lives. Jebus christ.

yeah I know what you mean, people should just mind thier business. Thats the real problem. Not that killing dogs for profit and breaking a **** load of laws , but people cant mind thier business. You know who cares about **** that dont effect them. I hear this type of thing all the time. You know people putting thier nose where it dont belong. Some guy kills abunch of people in a shoot out, who cares I didnt know em, you know. Some one rapes little girls in New Mexico whatever I live in Cali. So Vick raises dogs to kill each other and lies about it, so what its not my dog. I know what you mean man....whats wrong with these guys?

[#27TheDominator]

Wow, they found all this and his lawyer is already pulling the race card.

He needs a new lawyer. This guy obviously doesn't know when to hold em' and when to fold em'. Dude's no Kenny Rogers that's for sure.

You guys have this all wrong. That's not his lawyer:

The warrant never was executed because Commonwealth's Attorney Gerald G. Poindexter said he had issues with the way it was worded.

That search warrant expired Thursday.

"What is foreign to me is the federal government getting into a dogfighting case," Poindexter said. "I know it's been done, but what's driving this? Is it this boy's celebrity? Would they have done this if it wasn't Michael Vick?"

That's the prosecutor. He doesn't like the fact that the Feds are going over his head so he's complaining. Vick's lawyer could not be reached for comment. It's later in the article:

An after-hours call to Vick's attorney, Larry Woodward of Virginia Beach, was not immediately returned.

[Jet Moses]

Wow, they found all this and his lawyer is already pulling the race card.

You want to read a good book? Read The Bell Curve by Hernstein. It's a blow by blow account on the damage that affirmative action policies have caused.

For example, before affirmative action, the Washington DC police force was one of the best in the country. After faceless bureaucrats arbitrarily mandated that the police force implement race norming in hiring procedures, its become one of the worst.

The standards had to be lowered to meet the quotas and as a result they were hiring candidates that were functionally illiterate.

The result? One out of every 3 homicide arrests never make it to trial because the police fail to fill out basic paperwork properly. Since then, Washington DC is the murder capital of the country, no doubt the result of recidivism of killers who are arrested, then released.

[Bugg]

Let me preface this by saying dogfigthing is awful, and if Vick is involved I hope he goes to jail and loses his livelihood.

But as someone who lost friends, neighbors and schcoolmates on 9/11 and lives mere blocks away from the Buckeye pipeline, pardon me if this seems like something the Feds should not be doing if thier priorities were in order. As you may be aware, we have something like 12-20 million illegal aliens running amok in this country. Why is enforcement of those laws not done? By if there's a headline to be had, here come the Feds.

Michaal Vick, again, may be a bad guy doing bad things to innnocent animals. But the states have police and prosecutors to do that kind of work. That some grandstanding US attorney or FBI boss thinks this is priority is a disgrace.

[Jet Moses]

Let me preface this by saying dogfigthing is awful, and if Vick is involved I hope he goes to jail and loses his livelihood.

But as someone who lost friends, neighbors and schcoolmates on 9/11 and lives mere blocks away from the Buckeye pipeline, pardon me if this seems like something the Feds should not be doing if thier priorities were in order. As you may be aware, we have something like 12-20 million illegal aliens running amok in this country. Why is enforcement of those laws not done? By if there's a headline to be had, here come the Feds.

Michaal Vick, again, may be a bad guy doing bad things to innnocent animals. But the states have police and prosecutors to do that kind of work. That some grandstanding US attorney or FBI boss thinks this is priority is a disgrace.

Excellent point, the FBI is a f*cking joke.

But let's put things in perspective here, it's not like the ATF/FBI debacle where 70 armed ATF agents show up to issue a search warrant on David Koresh's compound on suspicion of arms trafficking and bigamy, and wind up burning it to the ground, incinerating 82 people, many of which were children.

I'm not shedding any tears just yet for poor, persecuted Michael Vick.

And that article does lead one to believe that perhaps the prosecutor in this case has been doing everything he can to derail an investigation. The search warrant is worded incorrectly? Well type a new one, Poindexter. F'n moron.

[BwanaZulia]

BZ

[Boozer76]

It's not as much racial as it is people not minding their own fuggin' business.

I know you might be seeing me as Clinton Portis. But seriously, does any of this affect our lives? Are any of us Falcon Fans?(besides sirspeez)... Is whether or not he is guilty going to help put food on our table?

Seriously, people, mind your damn business and go on with your lives. Jebus christ.

Hmmm, do the NY Jets put food on your table? Does watching a football game SERIOUSLY affect your life? It's frigging national news and this is a football forum.