SURRY CO -- For the first time, the man who uncovered Michael Vick’s dog-fighting operation is talking about the case and why he is now unemployed.

Surry County investigator Bill Brinkman says he knew the night he went to search Vick’s property, he would end up losing his job of nearly 10 years.

“When I executed that search warrant. That very night, I knew I was done,” he said.

Brinkman says from day one, he was at odds with the county’s lead prosecutor, Gerald Poindexter and Sheriff Harold Brown. He believes neither man wanted Vick prosecuted.

“I brought light to Surry County, and they don’t care for that,” said Brinkman. “They don’t want outside intrusions.”

Weeks ticked by with no sign Poindexter intended to indict Vick, or anyone in the case. We caught up with Poindexter a month after the initial raid. When we asked if he was any closer to indictments, he answered, “Could be.”

“While I was on site for three days, Mr. Poindexter and the sheriff came on site and saw the physical evidence in place, but yet, during the election process they’re saying they never saw nothing, that they never got nothing. Well, I’m here to say they saw it in place,” said Brinkman. “They saw the blood spatters, the training apparatuses. They saw the areas of the dogs being kept in.”

Video: Vick investigator expected to be fired

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Poindexter called off a search of Vick’s property to look for decaying dogs, saying the warrant was not legally sound. Brinkman disagreed, and became convinced the case was slipping away.

He tells us he called federal investigators telling them, “I think we are going to see the case go away.”

Days later, the feds took over, searching the property, unearthing dead dogs; one with 17 broken bones from being slammed into the ground.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office indicted Vick, who three months later pleaded guilty to a conspiracy dog-fighting charge.

While the U.S. Attorney’s Office gave Brinkman an award for his work on the Vick case, Surry County gave him the boot. Two days after Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison, the sheriff fired Brinkman.

Brinkman describes his nine years before the Vick case as perfect. Now, he’s selling his house, wanting nothing more to do with Surry County after Michael Vick.

When we asked if he would do it again, he replied, “Knowing what I know now, I’d have to do it again. That’s me.”

Poindexter did eventually indict Vick and three others on state animal cruelty and dog-fighting charges.

Poindexter tells us he hopes to share his side of the story in person, on camera, after Vick’s state trial.