National

Vick Pleads to Funding Dogfights; NFL Suspends Him

By Tom Goldman, Robert Siegel

Published August 24, 2007 at 1:00 PM PDT

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

NFL star Michael Vick has pleaded guilty to a dogfighting conspiracy charge, and the NFL suspended him indefinitely Friday.

In his plea agreement, the Atlanta Falcons quarterback says he bankrolled the operation and helped to kill pit-bull terriers that did not perform well. But he insists that he did not bet on any of the fights.

The guilty plea is likely to result in a prison sentence.

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National

Tom Goldman

Tom Goldman is NPR's sports correspondent. His reports can be heard throughout NPR's news programming, including Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and on NPR.org.

Robert Siegel

Prior to his retirement, Robert Siegel was the senior host of NPR's award-winning evening newsmagazine All Things Considered. With 40 years of experience working in radio news, Siegel hosted the country's most-listened-to, afternoon-drive-time news radio program and reported on stories and happenings all over the globe, and reported from a variety of locations across Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. He signed off in his final broadcast of All Things Considered on January 5, 2018.