The off-season woes continue for the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, as defensive lineman Isaiah Buggs faces misdemeanor animal cruelty charges after police seized two malnourished dogs abandoned on his rented property.
Police in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, were called to a home on Diamond Circle in March and found a gray and white pit bull on a screened-in back porch surrounded by feces with no access to food or water, court documents filed Wednesday say. A black rottweiler mix was found "locked in a metal cage in direct sunlight with no access to food or water."
Authorities filed two warrants alleging second-degree cruelty to dogs against Buggs.
Trey Robinson, an agent for Buggs, said his client "vehemently denies the truthfulness of the allegations and charges asserted against him."
"Under no circumstance does Mr. Buggs condone the mistreatment of any animal," Robinson said in an emailed statement.
He said that the dogs do not belong to Buggs and that he did not know they remained at the property.
Both dogs were "severely malnourished, emaciated and neglected," the documents say. The home, which Buggs was renting, appeared to be abandoned, according to the document.
A neighbor told police the dogs had been on the back porch for at least 10 days.
Witnesses said Buggs moved out of the home around March 19, the documents say. Authorities said he had received a notice of termination in April because more than $3,000 in back rent was owed.
Authorities said that they tried to reach Buggs, 27, but that their attempts were unsuccessful. The pit bull was euthanized last month because of increasing aggressiveness and failure to respond to heartworm treatment, according to the documents.
The rottweiler, which is 3 years old, weighed only 52 pounds and tested positive for canine parvovirus, a highly contagious disease that attacks the gastrointestinal tract and the white blood cells.
Robinson, Buggs' agent, accused the city and the police department of trying to smear Buggs’ "name and reputation as part of an on-going subversive campaign to force the close of his local business," Kings Hookah Lounge.
The Tuscaloosa Police Department declined to comment. It said Buggs turned himself in Thursday morning and was released on a $600 bond.
"These efforts are not new as Mr. Buggs was arrested at his business on misdemeanor charges on two separate occasions in the past two months, but each time no public record was made of these arrests," Robinson said. "Rather, the City used the threat of pursuing and publicizing both the allegations filed ... as leverage against Mr. Buggs by offering to drop and not pursue them in exchange for his voluntary surrender of his business license."
Robinson did not say why he believes the city and the police department are trying to force his client to shut down his hookah lounge. A city attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It is the latest in a series of incidents involving Chiefs players. Kicker Harrison Butker drew intense criticism this month after his commencement speech at Benedictine College sparked accusations of sexism and homophobia. And an arrest warrant was issued for receiver Rashee Rice in connection with a high-speed crash in Dallas. Rice, 24, turned himself in to police last month.