LeShon Johnson. Name sound familiar? Probably not—unless you’re a hardcore ‘90s NFL fan. Even then, he wasn’t exactly a household name. But for a brief moment in 1996, he had his flash of greatness—214 rushing yards on 21 carries against the Saints. That was his claim to fame. Now? His name is making headlines again, but for all the wrong reasons.
The ex-NFLer went way out of order if this was his attempt to leave his mark. Johnson has been charged in what the Justice Department calls the largest federal dogfighting bust in U.S. history. The numbers? Gulps… Nearly 200 pit bulls seized. FBI agents stormed his properties in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, uncovering a massive underground operation. The details are gruesome, the charges severe, and if convicted, Johnson faces years in prison and hefty fines.
Johnson’s NFL career wasn’t one for the history books. Drafted in the third round by the Packers in 1994, he bounced between the Packers, Cardinals, and Giants before hanging up his cleats after six seasons. His biggest off-field headline before this? Buying a pet lion named Nala with a rookie teammate. A strange, quirky footnote in his career.
𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴: Former NFL RB Leshon Johnson has been charged in a massive dog fighting operation, with the FBI seizing over 190 Pit Bulls.
It’s the largest bust of its kind in US history.
(via @TMZ) pic.twitter.com/4XsAwX1BXr
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) March 26, 2025
But fast forward to now, his obsession with doing something weird has not really passed away. This is something wild, to say the least. According to court documents, Johnson had been running dogfighting rings under the names ‘Mal Kant Kennels’ and ‘Krazyside Kennels.’ These weren’t backyard scraps. This was an organized operation, complete with pedigrees, financial records, and text messages detailing the fights. Prosecutors say Johnson trafficked dogs across state lines, making money off their suffering.
As the evidence keeps on piling up against LeShon… it’s revealing more sad reality of the power of the riches.
But the FBI wasn’t messing around. Johnson had been under investigation for months. Agents seized his phone, uncovering damning evidence—CashApp transactions, Facebook messages, emails—all pointing to a well-oiled dogfighting business.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi didn’t hold back in her statement:
“Animal abuse is cruel, depraved, and deserves severe punishment. The Department of Justice will prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law.”
Translation? The feds are coming for him, hard.
And what’s weird about it all is the fact that this wasn’t his first run-in with the law over animal cruelty. Clearly, he didn’t learn his lesson. Or something got lost in translation for him.
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