Ex-NFL Player LeShon Johnson Gets 5 Years for Dogfighting

Former NFL running back LeShon Johnson has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for operating a large-scale dogfighting network in Oklahoma. The business led to severe injury and death for hundreds of pit bulls over nearly two decades. The 55-year-old was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a $30,000 fine.

Conviction and Scale of Operation

An Oklahoma federal court convicted Johnson in August 2025 on six felony charges. These comprised three counts of possessing a dog for an animal fighting venture, two counts of selling a dog for animal fighting, and one count of selling, transporting, and delivering a dog for animal fighting.

Following his conviction, Johnson surrendered 190 pit bulls to federal authorities. According to the United States Department of Justice, this marks the largest number of dogs ever confiscated from a single individual in a federal dogfighting case. Prosecutors stated that Johnson ran the operation under the business name “Mal Kant Kennels” in Oklahoma starting in at least 2007. He selectively bred dogs classified as “champions”—those that had won three fights—and “grand champions”—those with five wins—to generate offspring with aggressive traits. He then sold stud rights and puppies to other dogfighters looking to add the kennel’s bloodline to their own fighting operations.

Legal Statements and Prior Conviction

Federal prosecutors requested a 10-year prison sentence under federal guidelines, citing the severity and history of the ring. Each of the six felony counts carried a potential maximum sentence of five years, but the court set the total term at five years.

“You can run, but you can’t hide from the Department of Justice,” Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. said in a statement released after the sentencing, noting that dogfighting remains a felony across all 50 U.S. states.

Court records indicate this was not Johnson’s first conviction related to dogfighting. In 2004, he pleaded guilty to state dogfighting charges in Oklahoma court and was placed on a five-year deferred sentence.

Defense Cites Severe Medical Issues

Johnson’s defense attorney, Billy Coyle IV, urged the judge to impose probation rather than prison time. In a pre-sentence memorandum, Coyle argued that Johnson suffers from severe medical conditions, including dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and brain injuries caused by multiple concussions during his professional football career.

Defense filings stated that Johnson has relied on a daily caretaker for the past two years. Coyle emphasized that Johnson had spent over two years on pretrial release without any conduct violations, maintaining sobriety and refraining from tobacco throughout that period.

Background

LeShon Johnson played professional American football as a running back for three NFL teams between 1994 and 1999. In the United States, animal fighting is prohibited at both state and federal levels under the Animal Welfare Act, which criminalizes the breeding, training, transport, sale, or possession of animals for combat.