An ex-Pentagon official accused of electrocuting dogs pleads guilty to dogfighting charges

BALTIMORE (AP) — A former Pentagon official who was federally indicted last year on dogfighting charges in Maryland has pleaded guilty to some of the counts against him.

Frederick Moorefield Jr., 63, entered the guilty plea Friday. Investigators found evidence he had engaged in the practice for years. They started investigating after responding to a report of two dead dogs found in a plastic dog food bag in 2018 and later seized veterinary steroids, a blood-stained carpet and jumper cables allegedly used for fatally electrocuting dogs from Moorefield’s home, according to prosecutors.

His co-defendant in the case, Mario Flythe of Glen Burnie, also pleaded guilty in July.

Moorefield was a deputy chief information officer for the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Prosecutors said Moorefield and Flythe used an encrypted messaging application to communicate with people across the country about dogfighting.

After responding to the report of two dead dogs, investigators found mail addressed to Moorefield inside the bag, and a necropsy determined that the dogs bore wounds and scarring patterns consistent with their having been used in dogfighting, officials said. They said Moorefield had been keeping and training dogs for fighting at his Maryland home for over 20 years.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«RELATED COVERAGE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true»