Embattled football star Michael Vick, who pleaded guilty to federal charges last month, faces more legal trouble after the prosecutor in the rural Virginia county where his dogfighting took place said he will seek to indict the former Atlanta Falcon quarterback, authorities said yesterday.
“Most of the matters that I’m presenting have already been admitted in sworn statements authored by the defendants in the federal proceedings,” said Surry County Commonwealth’s Attorney Gerald Poindexter.
Vick pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges Aug. 27 in a Virginia federal court growing out of his involvement in a dogfighting business.
Vick, who faces up to five years behind bars, will be sentenced Dec. 10 on the federal charges.
Poindexter did not detail the charges in the indictments he plans to pursue, but said his investigation and the federal probe are focused on different crimes.
In his written plea to the federal charges, Vick admitted helping kill six to eight pit bulls and supplying money for gambling on the fights in his business venture known as Bad Newz Kennels.
In his carefully worded plea to the feds, Vick’s lawyers made sure the charges did not include gambling. If the slew of new charges does include gambling, and Vick is found guilty, he could face a lifetime ban from the NFL.
Vick has said he did not place bets on any of the fights and never profited from them.
Vick’s co-defendants, however, said the former NFL star bankrolled the enterprise. The three had agreed to testify against Vick had the case gone to trial.
The case began last April 25 when authorities conducting a drug investigation of Vick’s cousin raided the former Virginia Tech star’s property and seized 50 pit bulls.
Vick has been indefinitely suspended without pay by the NFL and dropped by all his major sponsors.
The NFL has allowed the Falcons to “assert any claims or remedies” in an effort to recover $22 million of Vick’s signing bonus from the 10-year, $130 million contract he signed in 2004.