By HANK KURZ JR., Associated Press
The prosecutor in the county where Michael Vick has admitted to bankrolling a dogfighting operation plans to present "a host of bills of indictment" regarding the case to a grand jury today.
"Yes, I'm presenting matters to the grand jury that involve dogfighting at 1915 Moonlight Road," Surry County Commonwealth's Attorney Gerald Poindexter told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Monday night.
Moonlight Road is the address of the two-story home on 15 acres that has been host to the operation known as Bad Newz Kennels since 2001, and where dogs were trained, executed and fought.
"Most of the matters that I'm presenting have already been admitted in sworn statements authored by the defendants in the federal proceedings," Poindexter said.
Vick and three others pleaded guilty to one federal conspiracy charge, and each faces as much as five years in prison.
Vick's sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 10 in U.S. District Court in Richmond.
He's already been suspended indefinitely by the NFL and dropped by all his major sponsors, including Nike.
Poindexter has said he intended to seek state charges in the case but has been noncommittal about when he would ask a grand jury for indictments.
He said Monday that he couldn't detail the exact indictments he will pursue but said the local investigation and the federal investigation largely focused on different crimes.
"The killing of dogs is one of those statutory prohibitions. Dogfighting is a crime, the mistreatment of animals is a crime, so you could take your pick, or take them all," Poindexter said before cutting the conversation short. "I don't have anything else to say about it. I'm through with it. Hopefully it's coming to an end."
Vick, his co-defendants and his lawyers will not attend the closed proceeding.
Efforts to reach Vick's lawyers were not immediately successful Monday night.
In his written plea, Vick admitted helping kill six to eight pit bulls and supplying money for gambling on the fights.
He said he did not personally place bets or share in winnings but gave his three co-defendants all those proceeds.
The co-defendants who previously pleaded guilty said Vick bankrolled the enterprise, and two of them said Vick helped kill dogs that were not vicious enough in testing. The three had agreed to testify against Vick had the case gone to trial.
The case began in late April when authorities conducting a drug investigation of Vick's cousin raided the former Virginia Tech star's property and seized dozens of dogs, most of them pit bulls, and equipment common to dogfighting.
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