So it looked like Vick had trouble last summer, and then he struck a plea deal and it seemed like he could actually make it back on the field by next summer once he served some minimal amount of time behind bars.  However, it now appears that prosecutors were just building up to a nice pace.  Vick and his legal team may have been sprinting towards the goal line of a short Federal sentence, but other prosecutors are gearing up for a potential marathon.

Virginia Dog Fight Charges to be Considered this Week

The infamous, not going to prosecute Vick, Virginia District Attorney that waffled and decided to jump on the Vick bandwagon is positioned to have a Grand Jury hear a case as early as this Thursday if the Feds cooperate.  That could result in state dog fighting charges for Vick.  

There might be a delay in the indictments because Poindexter is waiting for federal investigaotrs to share forensic evidence.

New charges possible in Vick investigation

The Virginia Prosecutor may have a slam dunk Grand Jury indictment up his sleeve when he uses Vick’s own Federal Guilty plea to secure the indictment.

North Carolina Murder Investigation Drawing Federal Scrutiny

There is more information coming out about the North Carolina case.  The sheriff indicates that he has been cooperating with Federal investigators.  He has provided information about the murder victim and his dogs and records among other things and that the feds may be looking for connections to Vick and or his Posse turned Witnesses for the prosecution from Bad News Kennels.

New Information About the Murder Scene

The murder victim was known for keeping a very secure trailer.  If he did not know the person, Melton apparently never let anyone in his home keeping strict security.  That indicates the murder victim did know his victim.

Cocaine in North Carolina Case

Investigators at the murder scene found large amounts of money and cocaine at the scene of the murder.  That indicates that who ever killed the murder victim may have had other motives for killing Bud Melton or didn’t need the drugs and money. 

Melton was killed just days before the feds raided Michael Vick’s Virginia home.  The Feds according to court documents were tipped off by at least two sources from North Carolina. 

Melton was murdered in North Carolina.

Circumstantial Evidence

There’s lots of circumstantial evidence and lots of potential areas for speculation.  Right now, it appears the feds are hogging the Vick ball and not sharing with state and local teams looking at their own game strategy.  That could be why more information is coming out from the North Carolina Sheriff.  As the trail in NC grew cold from an uncooperative federal investigation team, its possible that the NC Sheriff is hoping to get the press involved to demand information from the feds and help draw some connections. 

Did the Feds Fumble a Murder

It might even be possible that the feds are rushing to cover up their own possible mistakes.  It would be one hell of a fumble if Vick’s Plea bargain allowed him to get away with murder.

Could the Vick Dog fighting Scandal turn into a Murder Mystery?

That’s what North Carolina investigators are attempting to discover.  Eight days before federal investigators raided Michael Vick’s home on April 25, Roy Thomas “Bud” Melton was found shot to death in his North Carolina mobile home.

Roy Thomas ‘Bud’ Melton
Age: 38
Date of death:  April 17, 2007
Where he was found: A friend found Melton shot to death in his home on Little Mountain Road on the outskirts of Sherrills Ford. He had been dead for several hours before the discovery of his body.
Details: Few details are available about the death of Roy Melton. There were no signs of forced entry or anything missing from the home. Investigators also seized 30 pit bulls from Melton’s property. They believed the dogs were used in dog fighting. However, investigators aren’t sure if the dog fighting is related to Melton’s death.
Anyone with information should call Investigator Aaron Turk at 465-8348.

 

The Vick / Bad News Kennel Connection to Bud Melton

Investigators in North Carolina Catawba County are now releasing information that shows links to Michael Vick’s Bad News Kennel and provides meticulous records of dogs that were fought in North Carolina. 

The Michael Vick indictment made multiple references to dog fights in North Carolina but no individuals were mentioned.  Melton’s records also show that some of the dogs raised by Melton may have ended up at Bad News Kennel.  This appears to be the first public release of names involved, and the named person is a murder victim.

Investigating Vick in relation to Murder?

Investigators stress that right now, they don’t have any evidence linking Vick’s operation with Melton’s murder but they are looking into that possibility.

Question for Commissioner Goodell: If Vick is Linked to this Murder is that serious enough for a permanent NFL ban?

Well, Commissioner, just where do you draw the line?

Follow the Money

Let’s consider motive for just a second.  Michael Vick had a $1-200 million empire on the line.  If he thought that that empire were at risk or if some of his buddies (that have proved their loyalty) thought the gravy train were about to derail, is it really so crazy to think that they might commit murder to cover things up?

People have killed people for far less than what Michael Vick was trying to protect.  In the early days, people thought that there might just be some smoke when they first raided Vick’s compound. 

That led to Vick’s plea agreement.  So there was a fire there.

But what if the fire was actually a lot larger and hotter than anyone ever conceived.  We are talking about a number of people involved in a number of illegal activities.  Many people have argued that Vick was just killing dogs and that dogs are not that important, and that after all Vick didn’t kill an actual person and that no people were harmed by what Vick did.

Well, it would now appear that Bud Melton might argue those premises, if he had not been murdered.

Its only a couple days into the sports scandal of the day, and OJ Simpson appears positioned to race further to the bottom so that he won’t have been out done by Michael Vick.

News Pundits, who have about as much popularity as OJ himself, are already drawing comparisons to OJ’s latest legal issues and Michael Vick’s legal issues.

The area of commonality?

Police and prosecutors in Las Vegas appear to be primed to use OJ’s alleged co-conspirators or perpetrators or whatever they are to turn against OJ and send OJ down the wadi (note they are in the Vegas desert, so no river readily available).

It’s stupid, but 2007 appears to be positioned as the year of the sports scandal.  We’ve had the infamous Michael Vick of course, but we’ve also had lots of other things:

• Tour De France
• Steroids in Baseball
• Steroids in Wrestling
• Benoit murder suicide
• NBA Referee(s) working for the Mafia
• OJ accused of armed robbery surrounding sports memorabilia
• Nascar Cheating Scandal
• Chargers Cheating Scandal
• The embattled Earnhardt family scandal
• Formula One Espionage Scandals

OJ’s Offshore Accounts

Plus on top of everything else, some of the people involved in the latest OJ controversy are making statements that they helped OJ launder money and hide his money in off shore accounts overseas.

Is OJ’s Downward Spiral a Model for Vick?

It’s almost 10 years since OJ was found not guilty of killing his wife, and under the guise of a fresh OJ scandal, its possible that some of OJ’s machinations may finally be revealed.

Is it possible that Vick will truly clean up his life?  Or will he pay lip service to the concept and walk into similar problems in the future, whereby the public will only then maybe 10 years later learn some of the truth that has not yet surfaced in the Vick scandal this year.  Time will tell, and eventually in almost all scandals someone eventually talks.