A high-ranking Pentagon official has been involved in dogfighting since at least 2002 and is accused of executing dogs that performed “poorly” in fights, according to a federal criminal complaint.
Department of Defense Deputy Chief Information Officer Frederick Douglass Moorefield Jr., 62, of Arnold, Maryland, and his friend Mario Damon Flythe, 49, of Glen Burnie, Maryland, are charged with facilitating a dog fighting ring, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland announced in an Oct. 2 news release.
On Sept. 6, FBI agents searched Moorefield’s home, where they found five caged “pit bull-type dogs” in “a windowless room” of his basement along with items used to strengthen dogs for fighting — including “weighted collars and heavy metal chains” — and a device “used for involuntarily inseminating female dogs,” the affidavit says.
Agents also found blood stains from dogfights on the walls of Moorefield’s basement and “an electrical plug and jumper cables suspected of being used to kill dogs who lost dogfights,” according to prosecutors and the affidavit.
Pentagon spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Tim Gorman told McClatchy News in a statement on Oct. 3 that the Department of Defense is “aware of the criminal complaint” filed against Moorefield, who no longer holds his Pentagon position.
“We can confirm that the individual is no longer in the workplace, but we cannot comment further on an individual personnel matter,” Gorman…
