May 21, 2009 9:06 PM
- Text
Vick Arrives Home For House Arrest
(CBS/AP)
Suspended NFL star Michael Vick arrived at his Virginia home in a car with blackout curtains Thursday after being released from federal prison to begin home confinement and try to resume his pro football career.
Vick, who threw away a $130 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons by running a dogfighting ring, is serving the last two months of his sentence at home. He's wearing an electronic tracking bracelet and will only be permitted to leave to work as a $10-an-hour construction laborer, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr.
Four cars pulled up to Vick's five-bedroom brick home at the end of a cul-de-sac at about 8:25 a.m Thursday. The caravan was led by a black Kia Sedona with curtains shielding the back seat from view and sunshields on the front side windows. Vick was in the Sedona along with his fiancee, Kijafa Frink, said Chris Garrett, a member of Vick's support and legal team.
"He's happy to be reunited with his family," Garrett said 10 minutes after the cars arrived.
About 90 minutes later, two probation officers and Vick's Virginia-based attorney, Larry Woodward, arrived. The officers outfitted Vick with an electronic monitoring device he will wear for the two months he spends under home confinement. They walked with him onto his back deck to make sure it was working properly.
They did not answer reporters' questions.
In a brief statement, Woodward said Vick is technically a furloughed federal inmate and not permitted to speak with the media without permission from the Bureau of Prisons. The process to obtain that permission is underway, Woodward said, but he did not say how long it will take or entertain any questions before driving away.
The statement capped a whirlwind 2½ hours.
When the caravan arrived, a man got out of the lead vehicle and moved aside orange cones blocking the driveway, then the Sedona drove into a garage on the side of the house and out of sight of the street. The other three cars followed. Two men, presumably security guards who were part of the traveling party, stood in the driveway and three others took up posts near the front door as though to prevent anyone from approaching. The guards also walked around to the back yard, checking the in-ground pool area surrounded by a wrought-iron fence for intruders.
Vick spent 19 months in federal prison after his conviction for financing a dogfighting operation. Once released at about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, Vick traveled the 1,200 miles in about 28 hours to get to the home, which he will share with Frink and their two children - the youngest of whom, London, was born just before he went to prison.
He will spend the next two months being monitored at home and working the construction job. He's scheduled to be released from federal custody on July 20, and then faces three more years of supervised probation.
Vick's construction job is part of his probation, and he was to find out more about the restrictions he faces in home confinement from the probation officers, though it was not clear if those guideline were laid out Thursday.
The ex-Virginia Tech star, who condoned drowning and hanging under-performing dogs, now claims he wants to prevent dog-fighting, Orr reports. He made that promise when he met with Humane Society President Wayne Pacelle.
"We're not convinced that he's a changed man but we do believe that he should have the chance to try to make good and to try to eradicate dog fighting in this country, Pacelle told Orr.
But Dawn Schweickert is skeptical. Schweikert and her husband are working to rehabilitate Mabel and Archie two of the beagles that Vick had intended to use as bait in training his fighters at the Bad Newz Kennels.
Another adopter, Shaun Brantley of Chesapeake, brought Vick's 4-year-old pit bull Caesar to Vick's neighborhood as a reminder of the dogs killed in the dogfighting operation.
"It's really inhumane what he did," said Brantley, 30. "He deserves a whole lot more than what he got."
Jason Boesen of Hampton, who wore a No. 7 Vick Falcons jersey, took the opposite view.
"Everyone deserves a second chance," said Boesen, 23. "There's people in the NFL that have done worse than him."
Vick's ultimate goal is a return to the NFL. Chief among his challenges is rehabilitating his image and convincing the public and Commissioner Roger Goodell that he is truly sorry for his crime, and prepared to live a different life.
"It goes beyond, 'Has he paid his debt to society?' Because I think that from a legal standpoint and financially and personally, he has," Falcons owner Arthur Blank said at an NFL owners' meeting Wednesday.
Vick, who threw away a $130 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons by running a dogfighting ring, is serving the last two months of his sentence at home. He's wearing an electronic tracking bracelet and will only be permitted to leave to work as a $10-an-hour construction laborer, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr.
Four cars pulled up to Vick's five-bedroom brick home at the end of a cul-de-sac at about 8:25 a.m Thursday. The caravan was led by a black Kia Sedona with curtains shielding the back seat from view and sunshields on the front side windows. Vick was in the Sedona along with his fiancee, Kijafa Frink, said Chris Garrett, a member of Vick's support and legal team.
"He's happy to be reunited with his family," Garrett said 10 minutes after the cars arrived.
About 90 minutes later, two probation officers and Vick's Virginia-based attorney, Larry Woodward, arrived. The officers outfitted Vick with an electronic monitoring device he will wear for the two months he spends under home confinement. They walked with him onto his back deck to make sure it was working properly.
They did not answer reporters' questions.
In a brief statement, Woodward said Vick is technically a furloughed federal inmate and not permitted to speak with the media without permission from the Bureau of Prisons. The process to obtain that permission is underway, Woodward said, but he did not say how long it will take or entertain any questions before driving away.
The statement capped a whirlwind 2½ hours.
When the caravan arrived, a man got out of the lead vehicle and moved aside orange cones blocking the driveway, then the Sedona drove into a garage on the side of the house and out of sight of the street. The other three cars followed. Two men, presumably security guards who were part of the traveling party, stood in the driveway and three others took up posts near the front door as though to prevent anyone from approaching. The guards also walked around to the back yard, checking the in-ground pool area surrounded by a wrought-iron fence for intruders.
Vick also remained mostly out of sight emerging only briefly, accompanied by a probation officer on the deck behind the five-bedroom house as they tested the electronic monitor Vick will wear for two months.Ex-NFL player Tony Mandarich weighs in on Vick's odds at a second chance
Vick spent 19 months in federal prison after his conviction for financing a dogfighting operation. Once released at about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, Vick traveled the 1,200 miles in about 28 hours to get to the home, which he will share with Frink and their two children - the youngest of whom, London, was born just before he went to prison.
He will spend the next two months being monitored at home and working the construction job. He's scheduled to be released from federal custody on July 20, and then faces three more years of supervised probation.
Vick's construction job is part of his probation, and he was to find out more about the restrictions he faces in home confinement from the probation officers, though it was not clear if those guideline were laid out Thursday.
The ex-Virginia Tech star, who condoned drowning and hanging under-performing dogs, now claims he wants to prevent dog-fighting, Orr reports. He made that promise when he met with Humane Society President Wayne Pacelle.
"We're not convinced that he's a changed man but we do believe that he should have the chance to try to make good and to try to eradicate dog fighting in this country, Pacelle told Orr.
But Dawn Schweickert is skeptical. Schweikert and her husband are working to rehabilitate Mabel and Archie two of the beagles that Vick had intended to use as bait in training his fighters at the Bad Newz Kennels.
"They were very, very scared very skittish," she told Orr. But now, "They are so happy they dance around they bark they kiss us. You wouldn't even have known that they were abused."
Another adopter, Shaun Brantley of Chesapeake, brought Vick's 4-year-old pit bull Caesar to Vick's neighborhood as a reminder of the dogs killed in the dogfighting operation.
"It's really inhumane what he did," said Brantley, 30. "He deserves a whole lot more than what he got."
Jason Boesen of Hampton, who wore a No. 7 Vick Falcons jersey, took the opposite view.
"Everyone deserves a second chance," said Boesen, 23. "There's people in the NFL that have done worse than him."
Vick's ultimate goal is a return to the NFL. Chief among his challenges is rehabilitating his image and convincing the public and Commissioner Roger Goodell that he is truly sorry for his crime, and prepared to live a different life.
"It goes beyond, 'Has he paid his debt to society?' Because I think that from a legal standpoint and financially and personally, he has," Falcons owner Arthur Blank said at an NFL owners' meeting Wednesday.
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