Two cases 20 years apart involved 418 pit bulls between them
MUSKOGEE, Oklahoma––The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma on March 25, 2025 unsealed a grand jury indictment charging former National Football League player Leshon Eugene Johnson, 58, with “possessing 190 pit bull-type dogs for use in an animal fighting venture, and for selling, transporting, and delivering a dog for use in an animal fighting venture,” according to a U.S. Department of Justice media release.
“Johnson, of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, made his initial appearance in court last week,” the Department of Justice release said.
Most pits impounded from one person in a federal case
“Federal authorities seized the 190 dogs from Johnson in October 2024, as authorized under the Animal Welfare Act. This is believed to be the largest number of dogs ever seized from a single person in a federal dog fighting case,” the Department of Justice media release continued.
However, 225 pit bulls were impounded from Leshon Johnson and multiple other defendants in related cases in a series of raids between May 25 and July 9, 2004.
Leshon Johnson pleaded guilty to state animal fighting charges then, but successfully contested additional charges.
“Mal Kant Kennels”
“According to court documents,” the Department of Justice media release specified, “Johnson ran a dog fighting operation known as ‘Mal Kant Kennels’ in both Broken Arrow and Haskell, Oklahoma. He previously ran ‘Krazyside Kennels’ also out of Oklahoma, which led to his guilty plea on state animal fighting charges in 2004.
“Johnson selectively bred ‘champion’ and ‘grand champion’ fighting dogs,” the Department of Justice media release detailed, explaining that in dogfighting terminology, a “champion” is a dog who has won three fights to the death; a grand champion has won five such fights.
“Johnson marketed and sold stud rights and offspring from winning fighting dogs to other dog fighters looking to incorporate the Mal Kant Kennels ‘bloodline’ into their own dog fighting operations.
“Contributed to the growth of the dog fighting industry”
“His trafficking of fighting dogs to other dog fighters across the country contributed to the growth of the dog fighting industry and allowed Johnson to profit financially,” the Department of Justice media release charged.
“Under federal law,” the Department of Justice media release detailed, “it is illegal to fight dogs in a venture that effects interstate commerce and to possess, train, transport, deliver, sell, purchase, or receive dogs for fighting purposes.
“If convicted, Johnson faces a maximum penalty on each count of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.”
Manufactured quotes
The Department of Justice media release also supplied manufactured quotes from U.S. attorney general Pam Bondi, FBI director Kash Patel, acting assistant attorney general Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment & Natural Resources Division, and Christopher J. Wilson, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Oklahoma.
Pledged Bondi, who has for 20 years cultivated an image as an animal advocate, but whose department has not previously prosecuted a high-profile animal-related case in the two months since her appointment, “The Department of Justice will prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law and will remain committed to protecting innocent animals from those who would do them harm.”
Intensified federal efforts against animal fighting?
Seconded Patel, “The FBI will not tolerate criminals who harm innocent animals for their twisted form of entertainment. The FBI views animal cruelty investigations as a precursor to larger, organized crime efforts, similar to trafficking and homicides.”
This might signify intensified federal efforts against cockfighting, increasing often subject to county-and-state-level prosecutions, under sustained investigative pressure from Showing Animals Respect & Kindness and Animal Wellness Action.
Gustafson reminded that, “Dog fighting is illegal, and courts have upheld its prosecution time and again.”
Wilson applauded “the investigative work of the FBI and the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division in detecting and dismantling breeding operations” serving the dogfighting industry.
The actual prosecutors of the case against Leshon Johnson will be Justice Department trial lawyers Sarah Brown and Ethan Eddy, with assistant U.S. attorney Jordan Howanitz.
“Dogfighting is a social crime”
Exploded Animal Wellness Action president Wayne Pacelle, who indirectly tangled with Leshon Johnson 20 years earlier, “What the hell was ex-NFL player Leshon Johnson thinking about running a massive dogfighting operation outside of Tulsa?
“Dogfighting is a social crime; others are involved as organizers, referees, and spectators,” Pacelle reminded, citing the case along with recent cockfighting busts in support of his ongoing efforts to pass the federal FIGHT Act, short for the “Fighting Inhumane Gambling and High-Risk Trafficking Act.”
Introduced in May 2023, the FIGHT Act died with the end of legislative business in the 118th Congress, ended in January 2025, but is expected to be reintroduced soon into the current 119th Congress.
“Cruelty-to-animals addict”
Leshon Johnson “was convicted of this same crime in 2005,” Pacelle recalled, “but is apparently a cruelty-to-animals addict. The U.S. should throw the book at him for his sickening crimes,” Pacelle said.
Sixth in the 1993 Heisman Trophy voting after leading the U.S. in rushing at Northern Illinois University, Johnson played professionally for the Green Bay Packers, Arizona Cardinals, and New York Giants, finishing up in the short-lived XFL, whose style of play was modeled on TV wrestling.
Leshon Johnson was first arrested for dogfighting in 2000, but prosecution that time was deferred on condition that he give up his pit bulls and stay away from dogfights.
Three-time loser
Four years later, Leshon Johnson, his girlfriend Shevetta Lee, his brother Luther Johnson Jr., and Luther Johnson Jr.’s girlfriend Camille Gann were allegedly found in possession of 68 of the 225 pit bulls impounded in the raids undertaken between May 25 and July 9, 2004, mostly in Holdenville and Wetumka, Oklahoma.
More than thirty people in all were charged with related offenses, reported Anthony Thornton of The Okalahoman.
All charges against Shevetta Lee were dropped in December 2004. Lee then sought to reclaim 50-odd pit bulls who remained in custody at the Tulsa Animal Shelter, but the pit bulls remained at the shelter as of November 2005, at cost to Tulsa taxpayers of more than $126,000, shelter director Larry Briggs testified.
Woman took stiffest rap
Briggs and Humane Society of the U.S. representative Ann Chynoweth further testified that the pit bulls were far too dangerous to rehome, but all eventually were rehomed to the Johnsons and Lee.
Luther Johnson meanwhile twice in four months beat racketeering raps.
Leshon Johnson, despite his previous conviction, again received a deferred sentence.
Camille June Gann, convicted of hosting dogfights in her greenhouse, to which LeShon Johnson and Luther Johnson Jr. allegedly brought dogs, in December 2005 was sentenced to serve seven years in prison plus eight years on probation.
Gann was still on probation at her death in September 2017.
(See also 15 years ago Michael Vick’s pit bulls killed the humane movement.)
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Dare we hope that there is finally a dog fighting charge against Johnson that will stick?
Back during one of the busts in which he was essentially let go, his put bull dogs were being held – some in Ada, some in Tulsa Animal Welfare.
At the time we did not have our OK pound seizure law in place. So Johnson was out nothing for the care of his dogs. The head of Tulsa Animal Welfare, (can’t recall his first name right now, but his last name was Briggs) objected loudly to the cost of keeping the dogs.
At the time, I was on the board of the Oklahoma Humane Federation, and between my personal donations and the donations from Oklahoma Humane Federation, we were able to provide enough money to appease Briggs. Then out of nowhere, LaShon’s brother and his girlfriend, came forward, claiming the dogs being held were theirs. and the dogs were released.
My personal actions in regard to the money to feed the dogs in the Tulsa pound resulted in a recognition of my efforts by the Oklahoma Board of Veterinary Examiners. I framed the certificate they sent to me, hung it on my kitchen wall beside my award certificate from the Norwegian Humane Society, given because of my work rescuing injured pigeons while we lived in Norway. Sad to say, precious mementos and my hard copy files all burned up in my house fire.
All of this is just to say why I am so thrilled to hear that authorities have arrested Johnson again.
How much prison time did Leshon Eugene Johnson serve since his original convictions years ago for crimes against animals?
Without significant prison time and the threat of significant prison time, repeated acts of extreme cruelty to animals will be carried out by sociopaths who enjoy hurting animals. No superego or holes in a severely impaired superego. Complete absence of the ability to feel empathy for others. No sense of right and wrong. Permanently damaged individuals.
Sociopaths don’t change. Controls have to come from the outside–from a society that has animal protection laws that are enforced and result in substantial punishment for people who brutalize and kill animals.
I don’t see any information as to where the confiscated dogs belonging to Johnson were taken when they were seized on October 17,2024.
The dogs seems to be all over the news now, but I haven’t found articles published at the time when the dogs were seized – Oct. 17, 2024 or where the dogs were taken.
Am I just missing it or was the dog seizure news withheld from public news sources at the
time of seizure? And where were the dogs held after seizure?
It is standard now standard procedure to house pit bulls seized in dogfighting cases at secret secure locations so that they will not be stolen back by dogfighters. This was not yet the case when Leshon Johnson was arrested in 2000 and 2004.
In a deeply dysfunctional society that glorifies power, greed, and violence, it’s not surprising that so many do this. But we should be so much better than this. And if those appointees are serious, I’d welcome their walking the talk.
Sharing with gratitude.
How strange that Leshon Johnson’s 2004 dogfighting charges seemingly made very little lasting impression on the American psyche, yet Michael Vick’s arrest just a few years later would explode in the way it did–forever entwining Vick’s name with the image of dogfighting and creating lasting ripples in the culture to this day.
ANIMALS 24-7 reported about the 2000 and 2004 Leshon Johnson dogfighting busts, but Johnson, even at the height of his pro football career, was just another player. Michael Vick when busted was arguably the biggest star in football.
Johnson was not playing at the time of his first arrest or his second. Vick was active. Both should get the same treatment they gave them dogs.
He should get life in a state prison. The prosecutor from his previous charges, should go with him! Then gave him the dogs back. Disgusting 😡😡🤬🤬
Leshon Johnson is currently charged under federal law. Thus, if convicted, he will serve time in a federal penitentiary.