Former Arizona Cardinals running back LeShon Johnson is headed to federal prison after a judge sentenced him to five years for running what prosecutors described as a massive dogfighting and trafficking operation out of Oklahoma.
Johnson received 60 months in prison on Thursday, along with three years of supervised release and a $30,000 fine after being convicted on six federal dogfighting charges. Federal agents also rescued 190 pit bulls from his property, the largest single-person dog seizure in federal law enforcement history.
Prosecutors said Johnson had been operating a lucrative breeding business under the name “Mal Kant Kennels” since at least 2007. According to evidence presented at trial, he promoted dogs online as “champions” and “grand champions” - labels tied to surviving three to five illegal fights - and made money selling puppies from winning bloodlines while also collecting stud fees. The operation generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal profit.
The sentence adds another dark chapter to Johnson’s post-playing life. He played three seasons for the Cardinals in the mid-1990s and was a college star at Northern Illinois in 1993, when he earned unanimous All-American honors and finished sixth in Heisman Trophy voting. Johnson had already pleaded guilty to state dogfighting charges in Oklahoma in 2004, then operating under the name “Krazyside Kennels.”
“LeShon Johnson will face justice for building another particularly egregious and violent dogfighting scheme,” said Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. “As Johnson was well aware, dogfighting is a felony in all 50 states.”
Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Tapp of the FBI New Orleans Field Office said, “The animals in this case were defenseless, and the defendant used them to harm each other for his entertainment.”
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