{"id":262699,"date":"2025-08-05T03:28:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T03:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/262699\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T03:28:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T03:28:10","slug":"ex-nfler-leshon-johnson-found-guilty-in-federal-dog-fighting-case-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/262699\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-NFLer LeShon Johnson found guilty in federal dog-fighting case ever"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ex-NFLer LeShon Johnson was convicted of six felony counts related to his role in a federal dog-fighting bust earlier this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A federal jury in Oklahoma found the former Giants running back guilty last week of violating the federal Animal Welfare Act\u2019s prohibitions against possessing, selling, transporting, and delivering animals to be used in fighting ventures, the Department of Justice announced on Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Johnson will be sentenced at a later date and faces a maximum penalty of five years behind bars and a fine of up to $250,000 on each count.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Leshon Johnson holds a press conference at the practice field of Giants Stadium in 1998. New York Post\/Mike Norcia<\/p>\n<p>Authorities seized 190 dogs and Johnson has surrendered them to the government, which is pursuing forfeiture of the animals.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis criminal profited off of the misery of innocent animals and he will face severe consequences for his vile crimes,\u201d Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. \u201cThis case underscores the Department of Justice\u2019s commitment to protecting animals from abuse \u2014 190 dogs are now safe thanks to outstanding collaborative work by our attorneys and law enforcement components.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/03\/26\/sports\/ex-giant-leshon-johnson-allegedly-ran-dog-fighting-operation\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Johnson had been charged in March<\/a> in what federal law enforcement dubbed the largest seizure of dogs ever in a federal case and had said that he had nearly 200 \u201cpit bull-type dogs,\u201d which were used in an \u201canimal fighting venture.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During the multi-day trial in Oklahoma, prosecutors presented evidence that Johnson had bred and trafficked dogs for his operation, called \u201cMal Kant Kennels,\u201d in order to fight them.<\/p>\n<p>LeShon Johnson scoring a touchdown in 1999. New York Post\/ W.A. Gunches Jr.<\/p>\n<p>LeShon Johnson carrying the ball for the Giants in 1999. New York Post\/ W.A. Funches Jr.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe FBI will not stand for those who perpetuate the despicable crime of dogfighting,\u201d FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement. \u201cThanks to the hard work of our law enforcement partners, those who continue to engage in organized animal fighting and cruelty will face justice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson spent five years in the NFL and was drafted by the Packers in the 1994 draft before playing from 1995-97 with the Cardinals and playing the 1999 season with the Giants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ex-NFLer LeShon Johnson was convicted of six felony counts related to his role in a federal dog-fighting bust&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2067],"tags":[1142,9488,23876,7,519,1917,56,2321,2469,6,1135,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-262699","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-giants","8":"tag-athlete-arrests","9":"tag-crime","10":"tag-dogs","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-giants","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-giants","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkgiants","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-oklahoma","19":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114974038755277444","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}