By ,
Published January 13, 2015
Atlanta Falcons star Michael Vick signed a plea deal Friday, admitting to conspiracy in a dogfighting ring and helping to kill pit bulls, but not gambling on the fights.
“Vick did not gamble by placing side bets on any of the fights. Vick did not receive any of the proceeds from the purses that were won,” according to a summary of the facts of the case.
Click here to read Vick's plea agreement.
Proceeds from "Bad Newz Kennels" were shared by Tony Taylor, Purnell Peace and Quanis Phillips, Vick's three co-defendants, the statement reads.
Phillips and Peace signed statements saying Vick participated in the execution of at least eight underperforming dogs by various means, including drowning and hanging, in April 2007.
"Vick agrees and stipulates that these dogs all died as a result of the collective efforts" of Vick and two of the co-defendants, Phillips and Peace, the statement says.
Vick knew dogs that did not perform well were being killed in the summer of 2002, but he did not kill any dogs at this time, according to the plea agreement.
The Atlanta Falcons quarterback is scheduled to formally enter his plea Monday in U.S. District Court.
In the plea agreement, the government committed to recommending a sentence on the low end of the federal sentencing guideline range of a year to 18 months. However, the conspiracy charge is punishable by up to five years in prison, and the judge is not bound by any recommendation or by the sentencing guidelines.
Meanwhile, the NFL quarterback's father asked his son to give up dogfighting, or to at least put property used in the venture in the names of others to avoid being implicated, a report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said.
On Thursday night, a report on ESPN.com citing an unidentified source detailed his plea agreement. ESPN reported that Vick's defense team met with federal attorneys Thursday afternoon to determine the "summary of facts" to which Vick will plead. But ESPN's source said Vick maintains he never killed dogs and never gambled on a dog fight.
On Monday, Vick agreed to plead guilty Monday in the federal dogfighting case in Richmond. He faces up to five years in prison and the possible end of his football career. Three co-defendants already pleaded guilty and were expected to testify against Vick if the case went to trial. In addition, a Virginia prosecutor is considering bringing state charges against Vick.
In the Journal-Constitution report posted on the newspaper's Web site Thursday night, Michael Boddie, who is estranged from Vick and the quarterback's mother, also said some time around 2001 his son staged dogfights in the garage of the family home in Newport News, Va.
Boddie told the newspaper Vick kept fighting dogs in the family's backyard, including dogs that were "bit up, chewed up, exhausted." Boddie claimed to have nursed the dogs back to health.
The indictment against Vick does not mention the parents' former home in Newport News.
In the report, Boddie dismissed the idea that Vick's longtime friends were the main instigators of the dogfighting operation.
"I wish people would stop sugarcoating it," Boddie told The Journal-Constitution. "This is Mike's thing. And he knows it ... likes it, and he has the capital to have a set up like that."
The report said Boddie and the Atlanta Falcons quarterback have had a volatile relationship for years and that his son has refused to speak with him directly for the last 2 1/2 half months.
Boddie, 45, lives in an apartment his son has paid the rent on for the last three years. Vick, who has a $130 million contract with the Falcons, also gives him a couple of hundred dollars every week or two, the father told the newspaper.
In the report, Boddie also said he asked Vick for $1 million, spread out over 12 years, Vick declined, the father said. Recently, Boddie asked Vick, through an assistant, for $700,000 to live on.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/story/michael-vick-signs-plea-deal-admits-to-conspiracy-in-dogfighting-ring