Ex-TV Reporter Fined for Staging Colorado Dogfight

A former television reporter was fined $20,000 Friday for staging a dogfight for a series of stories during ratings “sweeps” week last year.

Wendy Bergen’s lawyer said he will appeal the sentence because the dogs were muzzled during the fight for which she was held responsible.

Bergen, an Emmy-winning reporter for television station KCNC, was convicted Aug. 7 of staging a dogfight, being an accessory to a crime and conspiring to commit dogfighting. She could have faced a maximum 10 years in prison and $300,000 in fines.

Bergen resigned from KCNC in September, 1990, about the time she was indicted.