Judicial Watch: Senior Pentagon Official Earned Federal Salary of $2.5 Million over 10 Years While Operating Dog-Fighting Ring

Defense Official/Dog Fight Operator Allowed to ‘Voluntarily Retire’

 (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it received 81 pages of federal employee payment records from the U.S. Department of Defense revealing Deputy Chief Information Officer for Command, Control, and Communications, for Office of the Secretary of Defense Frederick Douglass Moorefield, Jr. earned federal salary and bonuses of $2,471,478 million over a 10-year period while operating a dog-fighting ring on the side and was allowed to “voluntarily retire” after his indictment.

On October 2, 2023, the Justice Department issued a press release, stating:

A federal criminal complaint has been filed charging Frederick Douglass Moorefield, Jr., age 62, of Arnold, Maryland, and Mario Damon Flythe, age 49, of Glen Burnie, Maryland with promoting and furthering animal fighting venture. The criminal complaint was filed on September 21, 2023, and was unsealed at the defendants’ initial appearances on September 28, 2023.

On October 4, 2023, the Justice Department announced the federal indictment of Moorefield and his associate Mario Flythe, stating:

A federal grand jury returned a 10-count indictment late yesterday charging [Moorefield and Flythe] with conspiracy to engage in an animal fighting venture and other charges related to their alleged establishment and promotion of a dog fighting ring.

Judicial Watch obtained the records through an October 2023 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Office of the Secretary of Defense/Joint Staff for:

1. All [payment records] SF-50s and SF-52s of Frederick Douglass Moorefield, Jr., deputy chief information officer for command, control and communication for the Secretary of Defense’s Chief Information Officer, for the period 2013 to 2023.

2. All disciplinary records of Mr. Moorefield for the period 2002 through 2023.

3. All emails sent to and from Mr. Moorefield referencing the terms “dog,” “dogs,” “DMV Board,” and/or “Geehad Kennels” …

The salary records show that over the final 10 years of Moorefield’s employment at the Defense Department he earned $2,174,565 in base compensation.

In that same 10-year period, he also received nine “Senior Executive Service Performance Awards” totaling $191,198, and two “Presidential Rank Awards” totaling $105,715, for total bonuses over the 10-year period of $296,913.

During 2022, Moorefield’s last complete year of employment, Moorefield received total government compensation of $306,701:

• On January 2, 2022, Moorefield’s salary was increased from $198,162 to $203,700;
• On October 6, 2022, Moorefield received a “Presidential Rank Award” of $71,295 on top of his base salary of $203,700;
• On December 31, 2022, Moorefield received an “SES Performance Award” of $28,111, on top of his $203,700 base salary.

During 2023, Moorefield’s last partial year of employment:

• On January 1, 2023, Moorefield’s base salary was raised from $203,700 to $212,100;
• On October 1, 2023, Moorefield’s job title was changed from Deputy Chief Information Officer for Command, Control and Communications to Special Assistant to the Department of Defense Chief Information Officer while his salary remained unchanged;
• On October 6, Moorefield was permitted “Retirement-Voluntary.” In the “Remarks” section of the form, a note says: “Lump-sum payment to be made for any unused annual leave. Reason for retirement: to obtain retirement benefits.” The remarks further provide a forwarding address for Moorefield at a home that he sold on January 30, 2024, for $454,500.

According to an October 3, 2023, news report in Stars and Stripes:

An affidavit written by FBI Special Agent Ryan C. Daly indicated that authorities have been investigating the dogfighting ring, which called itself “the DMV Board,” for years. Nine fellow dog-fighters were indicted in Virginia last year, and eight have pleaded guilty and cooperated with investigators. Members communicated on the “Telegram” messaging app about training fighting dogs, exchanging videos, arranging fights and wagers, and comparing methods of killing dogs who lost fights, the affidavit states.

The same article reports:

The FBI, the Department of Agriculture, and other local and federal agencies raided [two] houses on Sept. 6, according to a federal affidavit, finding weighted collars and heavy metal chains used to increase fighting dogs’ strength. Authorities said they also found “an apparatus that is used for involuntarily inseminating female dogs” and stains “consistent with bloodstains from dogfights.”

“The Biden-Harris Pentagon has a peculiar HR approach – fire good men and women who object to forced Covid vaccines and allow indicted individuals to ‘voluntarily retire’ with full benefits,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

Judicial Watch FOIA requests and lawsuits exposed initial White House falsehoods about the severity and number of attacks by the Bidens’ previous dog, Major. Judicial Watch then received a tip that Commander was also attacking Secret Service personnel and uncovered documents last July showing 10 biting incidents.

According to a Judicial Watch source, President Biden mistreated his dogs. The source disclosed Biden punched and kicked his dogs.

On May 14, 2024, Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit regarding Biden’s dogs after the Department of Homeland Security failed to respond to a February 28, 2024, FOIA request (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 1:24-cv-01397)). Judicial Watch is asking for:

All emails and text messages sent to and from the following officials regarding the submission of CA-1 Forms (“Notice of Traumatic Injury and Claim for Continuation of Pay or Compensation”) in connection with bites by Biden family dogs: Director Kimberly Cheatle, Deputy Dir. Ronald Rowe, Chief Operating Officer Cynthia Radway, Asst. Dir. Michael Plati, Asst. Dir. Brian Lambert, Chief Human Capital Officer Denise Walker Hall, Asst. Dir. David Smith, Asst. Dir. Miltom Wilson, Uniformed Division Chief Michael Buck, Chief Counsel Thomas Huse, and Chief of Communications Anthony Guglielmi.

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