Former New York Giants running back LeShon Johnson, who played in the NFL from 1994 to 1999, was convicted on Thursday for his involvement in a large-scale dogfighting ring in Oklahoma. He has been ordered to pay a $30,000 fine and will serve five years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

““LeShon Johnson will face justice for building another particularly egregious and violent dog fighting scheme,” associate attorney general Stanley E. Woodward Jr. said in a statement Thursday, via ESPN. “As Johnson was well aware, dogfighting is a felony in all 50 states. To anyone attempting to build violent and illicit business schemes: you can run, but you can’t hide from the Department of Justice.”

According to the Department of Justice, Johnson surrendered 190 dogs to the government, which is the largest number of dogs surrendered in a federal dogfighting case by an individual, showing the scale of the crime. The dogs, mainly Pitbulls, were recorded to have “resulted in death and serious bodily injury.”

Johnson was convicted of six felonies last August in an Oklahoma federal court, according to ESPN: “three counts of possessing a dog for use in an animal fighting venture, two counts of selling a dog for use in an animal fighting venture, and one count of sale, transport and delivery of a dog for use in an animal fighting venture.”

In a press release, it was revealed that the FBI partnered with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma and the Justice Department’s Energy and Natural Resources Division to hold Johnson responsible after going through the documents and further investigation, while the U.S. Marshals Service carried out the largest operation for dogfighting to arrest Johnson.

But this isn’t the first time he has committed a crime. Earlier, he pleaded guilty in 2004 to Oklahoma dogfighting offenses, previously ran “Krazyside Kennels, ” and, since 2007, has been running another major operation since 2007, breeding and selling dogs. Johnson referred to his new operation as “Mal Kant Kennels.”

Though he has now been convicted and will be sent to prison, his attorney, Billy Coyle IV, shared a few points with ESPN, stating that Johnson is a “medically compromised human being” who is suffering from Parkinson’s disease and severe dementia, and also claimed that he suffered “multiple concussions and traumatic brain injuries from his football career.”

Coyle also revealed that Johnson has had a caretaker for the past two years.

“The main point was just to show the court that he’d been out on bond for pretrial release for over two years,” Coyle said. “He’s got no infractions whatsoever. He doesn’t drink. He doesn’t smoke. I don’t think the necessity of sending him to prison or jail was necessary.”

Selected by the Green Bay Packers in the third round of the 1994 NFL Draft, Johnson played for the Packers, Arizona Cardinals, and New York Giants. He played his final year with the Giants, featuring in 16 games for them. He recorded 1,389 yards from scrimmage for seven touchdowns and 43 receptions in his five-year NFL career before retiring in the XFL.

While it is a heinous crime, Johnson isn’t the only player in NFL history to have been arrested in connection with such an offense.

Another NFL player has previously pleaded guilty to dogfighting crime

Back in August 2007, Former NFL star quarterback Michael Vick pleaded guilty to funding the dogfighting operation called “Bad Newz Kennels,” which housed approximately 54 dogs, most of them being Pitbulls.

Reports said they staged dog fights and bred dogs forcibly. He had two charges against him, both Class 6 felonies: to promote “dogfighting for amusement, sport, or financial gain or to possess, own, train, transport, or sell any dog intended for animal fighting, and to “engage in the torture, ill-treatment, beating, maiming, mutilation, or killing of animals.”

Vick also lied about not killing dogs, but later admitted to killing two dogs, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Gill, saying that he “carried a dog over to Quanis Phillips, who tied a rope around its neck,” and “dropped the dog.”

Vick was then sentenced to 23 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson and also received three years of supervised probation not to buy or sell dogs. He was also ordered to pay $928,073 as restitution for the 53 dogs seized from his property.

As the No. 1 overall pick in the 2001 NFL Draft, Vick wasn’t just an ordinary NFL player; he was one of the biggest stars of the 2000s, earning four Pro Bowl selections in his career, including the 2010 Bert Bell Award. His career, though, was put on hold for two years in 2007 and 2008; the Philadelphia Eagles signed him back to the league in 2009, and he continued to play until 2015.

These two cases further urge the need for animal abuse awareness and set examples for others of what a heinous crime the dogfighting business is.