| Reports: Vick's father says he asked Falcons star to stop dogfighting |
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| Written by Admin |
| Thursday, 23 August 2007 18:42 |
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ATLANTA (AP) -Michael Vick's father said he asked his son to give up dogfighting, or to at least put property used in the venture in the names of others to avoid being implicated, according to a report in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Also Thursday night, a report on ESPN.com quotes an ESPN source saying Vick will not admit to killing dogs or gambling on dogfights when he enters a guity plea in a Richmond, Va., federal court Monday. The source told ESPN that Vick's defense team met with federal attorneys Thursday afternoon to determine the ``summary of facts'' to which Vick will plead. But the source says Vick maintains he never killed dogs and never gambled on a dog fight. The source said the Atlanta Falcons quarterback will plead guilty to the charge of interstate commerce for the purpose of dogfighting. considering bringing state charges against Vick. In The Journal-Constitution report posted on the newspaper's Web site Thursday night, Michael Boddie, who is estranged from Vick and the quarterback's mother, also said some time around 2001 his son staged dogfights in the garage of the family home in Newport News, Va. Boddie told the newspaper Vick kept fighting dogs in the family's backyard, including dogs that were ``bit up, chewed up, exhausted.'' Boddie claimed to have nursed the dogs back to health. The indictment against Vick does not mention the parents' former home in Newport News. In the report, Boddie dismissed the idea that Vick's longtime friends were the main instigators of the dogfighting operation. ``I wish people would stop sugarcoating it,'' Boddie told The Journal-Constitution. ``This is Mike's thing. And he knows it ... likes it, and he has the capital to have a set up like that.'' The report said Boddie and the Atlanta Falcons quarterback have had a volatile relationship for years and that his son has refused to speak with him directly for the last 2 1/2 half months. Boddie, 45, lives in an apartment his son has paid the rent on for the last three years. Vick, who has a $130 million contract with the Falcons, also gives him a couple of hundred dollars every week or two, the father told the newspaper. In the report, Boddie also said he asked Vick for $1 million, spread out over 12 years, Vick declined, the father said. Recently, Boddie asked Vick, through an assistant, for $700,000 to live on. |
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