Federal Agents Converge On Vick Property

With more than a dozen vehicles, federal law enforcement officials descended on a home previously owned by Michael Vick on Thursday, armed with a search warrant that suggests they're taking over an investigation into the Atlanta Falcons quarterback's possible involvement in dogfighting. They went to the home early in the afternoon and investigators searched inside before turning their attention to the area where officials found dozens of dogs in late April & evidence that suggested the home was involved in a dogfighting operation. A search warrant, which was secured in late May by Surry County (VA) officials and would have expired by Thursday, allowed the search.

Surry County Commonwealth Attorney Gerald Poindexter had been in charge and had some interesting comments. "What is foreign to me is the federal government getting into a dogfighting case," Poindexter said. "I know it's been done, but what's driving this? Is it this boy's celebrity? Would they have done this if it wasn't Michael Vick?" Poindexter said he was "absolutely floored" that federal officials got involved, and that he believes he and Sheriff Harold D. Brown handled the investigation properly. "Apparently these people want it," Poindexter said. "They want it, and I don't believe they want it because of the serious criminal consequences involved. ... They want it because Michael Vick may be involved." Poindexter said he found out about a sealed search warrant filed in the U.S. Attorney's office about the time federal investigators executed it Thursday. "If they've made a judgment that we're not acting prudently and with dispatch based on what we have, they've not acting very wisely," Poindexter said. He said Surry County officials were preparing another search warrant for the property and that the investigative team planned to meet to make sure they had all the experts needed to make the search most effective. "There's a larger thing here, and it has nothing to do with any breach of protocol," Poindexter said. "There's something awful going on here. I don't know if it's racial. I don't know what it is." Thursday evening, a state police evidence collection truck was parked inside the fence surrounding the house. Investigators could be seen carrying a large sheet of plywood and a box.