Kansas City Chiefs defensive lineman Isaiah Buggs turned himself in to police Thursday after being accused of animal cruelty in Tuscaloosa, Ala., according to multiple reports.
Buggs was booked at the Tuscaloosa County Jail and later released on a $600 total bond for two counts of second-degree cruelty to dogs, a police spokesperson confirmed to ESPN. A court hearing has been set for June 13, per ESPN.
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Authorities obtained the two misdemeanor warrants against Buggs on Wednesday after police received information on March 28 about two dogs left on the back porch of a home that investigators found was rented by Buggs, according to a civil petition. Witnesses said Buggs recently moved out of the home, and investigators determined Buggs’ lease was terminated in April due to owing more than $3,100 in back rent.
When police and animal control officers arrived at the residence, they found a pit bull on the screened-in back porch surrounded by feces, and a Rottweiler mix locked in a cage in direct sunlight — both without access to food or water, the petition said.
The dogs were taken from the home due to being “severely malnourished, emaciated, neglected and the residence appearing to be abandoned,” per the petition. An animal shelter later euthanized the pit bull after it became increasingly aggressive and failed heartworm treatment, while the Rottweiler mix — which arrived at an extremely low weight of 52 pounds and tested positive for a viral illness — remains at the shelter, the petition said.
In a statement Wednesday, Buggs’ agent, Trey Robinson, denied the allegations and said the charges are part of a “concerted effort” by the city of Tuscaloosa and its police department “to besmirch Mr. Buggs’ name and reputation as part of an ongoing subversive campaign to force the close of his local business Kings Hookah Lounge.
“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 in an email. “Rather, the city used the threat of pursuing and publicizing both the allegations filed today and these arrests as leverage against Mr. Buggs by offering to drop and not pursue them in exchange for his voluntary surrender of his business license.”
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The Chiefs declined to comment on the allegations.
Buggs, 27, signed a reserve/future contract with the Chiefs in February after spending last season on the practice squad. He spent two seasons with the Detroit Lions and three with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was selected out of Alabama by the Steelers in the sixth round of the 2019 draft. He’s recorded 89 tackles and two sacks in his NFL career.
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(Photo: Mitchell Leff / Getty Images)