Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Now Vick's Getting Sued

One day after Michael Vick was offered a plea agreement that would send him to jail for approximately one year, now he has a civil suit on his hands. This sounds ridiculous and probably doesn’t have any merit. When I first read it, I thought it might be a prank.
Vick has been accused of a lot of different things, but up until now, no one has questioned his allegiance to the United States. This suit appears to be a case of someone piling on. I’d like to get a little more background on this inmate to determine if this suit has any validity at all. I doubt it does.
Here is the story as it appeared on ESPN.com:
Embattled NFL quarterback Michael Vick, facing federal charges related to his alleged participation in dog fighting, has been hit with a "$63,000,000,000 billion dollar" lawsuit filed by a South Carolina inmate who alleges the Atlanta Falcons star stole his pit bulls and sold them on eBay to buy "missiles from Iran," FOX News has learned.
Jonathan Lee Riches filed the handwritten complaint over "theft and abuse of my animals" on July 23.
Riches alleges that Vick stole two white mixed pit bull dogs from his home in Holiday, Fla., and used them for dog fighting operations in Richmond, Va. The complaint goes on to allege that Vick sold the dogs on eBay and “used the proceeds to purchase missiles from the Iran government.”
The complaint also alleges that Vick would need those missiles because he pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda in February of this year.
“Michael Vick has to stop physically hurting my feelings and dashing my hopes,” Riches writes in the complaint.
Riches wants $63 billion dollars “backed by gold and silver “delivered to the front gates to the Williamsburg Federal Correctional facility in South Carolina. Riches is an inmate at the facility serving out a wire fraud conviction.
Vick's attorneys, meanwhile, are negotiating a plea deal with federal prosecutors before new dog fighting charges are filed next week, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
No plea agreement involving Atlanta Falcons quarterback Vick has been filed, according to the court clerk, FOX News has learned.
Vick was accused of being involved in a dog fighting ring called "Bad Newz Kennels" run on property he owned in Surry County, Va. In late July, Vick pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activities, and conspiring to sponsor a dog in an animal fighting venture in a Richmond, Va., court.
Vick could reach an agreement ahead of new charges expected to come down next week after two more of Vick's three co-defendants prepare to enter guilty pleas later this week. By reaching a plea agreement, Vick could avoid any additional charges.