*A man who sold a female pit bull to Michael Vick's illegal dogfighting operation managed to stay out of prison Friday after a judge sentenced him to probation instead and ordered him to pay a fine.

       "Your case is in a clearly different class than the other defendants who've appeared before me," U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson told 67-year-old Oscar Allen, who got a break because he cooperated with investigators and did not physically harm any of the dogs. "But for your cooperation the case would not have developed as smoothly and completely as it did."      

       Allen was sentenced to three years probation and fined $500 for his limited involvement in the dogfighting ring that operated out of Vick's 15-acre spread in rural Surry County, Va.       

       Allen, from the Williamsburg area, pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce to aid in illegal gambling and to sponsor a dog in animal fighting — the same charge to which Vick and the other three men pleaded guilty.

       He faced a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, but federal prosecutors recommended that he spend no time in prison because he cooperated with investigators, had no prior criminal record and was a minor player in Vick's dogfighting enterprise.

       Vick, who admitted bankrolling the dogfighting operation and helping execute dogs, entered a minimum-security prison in Leavenworth, Kan., this month.