Former NFL RB LeShon Johnson Sentenced To 5 Years In Prison For Operating Large-Scale Dogfighting Ring
An ex-NFL running back received a sentence of five years in federal prison Thursday for running a large-scale dogfighting ring that “resulted in death and serious bodily injury” to hundreds of pit bulls, according to a release from the Department of Justice
LeShon Johnson, who played for three NFL franchises between 1994 and 1999, was convicted in an Oklahoma federal court last August on six felonies, according to ESPN: three counts of possessing a dog for use in an animal fighting venture, two counts of selling a dog for use in an animal fighting venture, and one count of sale, transport and delivery of a dog for use in an animal fighting venture. (RELATED: Browns’ Deshaun Watson, Already Mired In Scandal, Finds Himself In Legal Trouble Days Before Opening Game)
Johnson will also have supervised release for three years to go along with his prison sentence and has been fined a total of $30,000.
Following his conviction, the 55-year-old Johnson gave up 190 dogs to the federal government. In its press release, the DOJ stated that it’s the largest number of dogs ever seized from one person in a dogfighting case at the federal level.
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Since at least 2007, Johnson operated “Mal Kant Kennels” where he bred and trafficked pit bulls, while also breeding “champion and grand champion” pit bulls to produce dogs with fighting qualities. A champion is a dog that has three victories, and a grand champion has five.
In a 2025 press release, prosecutors announced the indictment and stated that the former football player “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,” according to ESPN.
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