Federal authorities said this week that they had broken up a major dogfighting kennel in Oklahoma led by former National Football League running back LeShon Johnson, seizing 190 pit-bull-type dogs in what they described as the most ever taken from a single person in a federal case.

In a news release, the Justice Department said Tuesday that a 21-count indictment against Johnson, 54, had recently been unsealed in federal court in Muskogee, Oklahoma. He was arrested March 20 and arraigned the same day before being released, according to court documents.

Johnson, who played for the Green Bay Packers, the Arizona Cardinals and the New York Giants in the 1990s, is facing felony charges of possessing and trafficking dogs for use in an animal fighting venture. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count.

Previously Pled Guilty to Dogfighting Charges in 2024

He previously pleaded guilty to state dogfighting charges in 2004 and received a five-year deferred sentence.

“The FBI will not tolerate criminals that harm innocent animals for their twisted form of entertainment,” Kash Patel, the FBI director, said in a statement. “The FBI views animal cruelty investigations as a precursor to larger, organized crime efforts, similar to trafficking and homicides.”

Courtney R. Jordan, a lawyer for Johnson, declined to comment Wednesday.

Investigators say Johnson “selectively bred ‘champion’ and ‘grand champion’ fighting dogs — dogs that have respectively won three or five fights” as part of his criminal enterprise, which was known as Mal Kant Kennels and was based in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and Haskell, Oklahoma.

He marketed and sold stud rights and offspring from winning fighting dogs to others involving in dog fighting, authorities said, promoting their bloodlines.

Federal prosecutors said they had obtained text messages, emails and money transfer app transactions that show that Johnson had profited from his dogfighting venture.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Neil Vigdor
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