A former Pentagon official accused of electrocuting dogs pleads guilty to dog fighting

BALTIMORE– A former Pentagon official who was indicted in federal court last year on dog fighting charges in Maryland has pleaded guilty to several counts.

Frederick Moorefield Jr., 63, pleaded guilty on Friday. Investigators found evidence he had been engaging in the practice for years. They began investigating after responding to a report of two dead dogs found in a plastic bag of dog food in 2018. They later seized veterinary steroids, a blood-stained carpet and jumper cables allegedly used to electrocute dogs in Moorefield's home, prosecutors said.

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

Moorefield was deputy chief information officer in 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 dog fighting.

After responding to a report of two dead dogs, investigators found mail addressed to Moorefield in the bag, and an autopsy revealed the dogs had wounds and scar patterns consistent with them being used in dog fighting, officials said. They said Moorefield had kept and trained dogs for fighting at his Maryland home for more than 20 years.

He was connected to a dogfighting ring that operated in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. According to officials, the ring organized dog fights and members placed bets on the outcome.

“In the event that one of Moorefield's dogs lost a fight but did not die, Moorefield killed that dog,” officials with the U.S. Attorney's Office for Maryland said in a news release Friday. “One method of killing Moorefield employed was to use a device made of jumper cables connected directly to a regular plug. Moorefield plugged the device into an electrical outlet and attached the cables to the dog, causing the dog to receive an electric shock.”

When agents searched Moorefield's home in September 2023, they found five pit bull-like dogs kept in metal cages in a windowless room in the basement. Among the items they seized was a bloody piece of carpet that Moorefield used to test the dogs' fighting ability, officials said.

One of the dogs had to be put down “after showing extreme aggression towards both his human owners and other dogs,” according to the prosecutor.

Moorefield pleaded guilty to conspiracy to participate in animal fighting and interstate travel in support of organized crime. He faces up to five years in prison.

An attorney representing Moorefield did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.