Former NFL player LeShon Johnson sentenced to 5 years in federal prison for running dogfighting operation

Former NFL running back LeShon Johnson was sentenced to five years in federal prison after being convicted of running a massive dogfighting operation that prosecutors said bred and trafficked hundreds of animals.

Johnson, 55, was found guilty of six dogfighting-related charges in a mixed verdict during a federal trial last year in Muskogee, Oklahoma. He was convicted of violating the federal Animal Welfare Act's prohibitions against possessing, selling, transporting and delivering animals to be used in fighting ventures.

An Oklahoma federal judge sentenced him on Thursday to 60 months in prison plus three years of supervised release. He was also fined $30,000.

Prosecutors said that since 2007, Johnson "bred and trafficked hundreds of dogs for the purpose of dog fighting around the country" in an operation known as "Mal Kant Kennels."

In 2024, authorities seized 190 pit bull-type dogs from his Oklahoma residence and dog yard, "the largest number ever seized from a single individual in a federal dog fighting case," the DOJ said in a press release.

Financial transactions showed that in the four years prior to the seizure, Johnson received more than $400,000 for the sale of his dogs, according to court filings.

Johnson had previously been convicted of dogfighting offenses in a 2004 state case and received a five-year deferred sentence, prosecutors said.

"LeShon Johnson will face justice for building another particularly egregious and violent dog fighting scheme," Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. said in a statement. "As Johnson was well aware, dog fighting is a felony in all 50 states."

Johnson played in the NFL for the Green Bay Packers, Arizona Cardinals and New York Giants from 1994 to 1999.

His attorney, Billy Coyle, asked for a sentence of 15 to 21 months, citing Johnson's need for medical care. In a sentencing memorandum, Coyle said Johnson's medical history is "unusually serious" -- including a diagnosis of severe dementia in 2025 and Parkinson's disease in 2024 and other injuries stemming from his football career.

Coyle also asked that the judge not impose a fine, saying it would "impair Mr. Johnson’s ability to meet medical, caregiving, and family-support obligations."

"Given his age, severe health conditions, lack of criminal history points, and compliance while on release, a lengthy prison term is not necessary to protect the public from future crimes," Coyle stated. "The convictions themselves, the loss of his dogs, the financial and emotional consequences of the prosecution, and a sentence within or below the properly calculated range provide substantial deterrent effect."

Prosecutors asked for a sentence of 10 years, citing the "extraordinary scope, size, and duration" of his operation and arguing that he "made a mockery" out of the sentence imposed in his prior felony dogfighting conviction.

"Defendant in particular has demonstrated a profound lack of respect for the law, in that his response to his prior felony dog fighting conviction was not to depart from his illegal practices, but rather, to grow an even larger illegal business," Senior Trial Attorney Ethan Eddy stated in a court filing ahead of the sentence.

"Defendant has contributed as much to the growth of dog fighting in this country as anyone yet encountered by federal law enforcement," he stated.