Vick agrees to put up almost $1M for dogs' care

Suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick has agreed to set aside close to $1 million to pay for the care of the 54 pit bulls seized from his dogfighting operation.

In court documents obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Billy Martin, one of Vick's attorneys, said Vick will deposit $928,073 on Friday into an escrow account controlled by Martin's Washington law firm.

The money is being set aside "to pay whatever restitution amount is ultimately ordered in this case," a court filing said, according to the Journal-Constitution.

In court papers filed last week, the government asked U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson to issue a restraining order that essentially would freeze the money to fulfill Vick's legal obligation to cover the costs of caring for the dogs and finding homes for them.

Vick faces a prison term of up to five years when he is sentenced Dec. 10 on a federal dogfighting conspiracy conviction. He voluntarily began serving his prison term on Nov. 19 in Warsaw, Va.

The pit bulls were confiscated from his Bad Newz Kennels property in Surry County.

On Tuesday, a judge scheduled for April 2 a jury trial on state dogfighting charges.

The dogfighting operation known as Bad Newz Kennels operated since 2001 on Vick's 15-acre spread in Surry County. A drug investigation of a Vick relative led authorities to the property, where they found more than 50 pit bulls and equipment commonly used in dogfighting.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Source: ESPN.com