5 face federal charges in cockfighting events in San Bernardino County
Five people are facing federal charges alleging they held regular cockfighting events in San Bernardino County, where dozens of attendees paid to watch and gamble on roosters sometimes fighting to the death, according to prosecutors.
They are accused of hosting the events in the community of Muscoy, about five miles north of Rialto, on Sundays during the regular cockfighting season which usually runs January to August, according to an affidavit in the case. A sharp, curved blade known as a "gaff," usually measuring about 1.5 inches long, would often be attached to each rooster's leg before a fight, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California said in a statement announcing the charges.
"At times, the fights ended in the death of one or both roosters," the statement says.
Cockfighting is illegal in every state. Roosters are kept in a fighting pit which they cannot escape — no matter how badly injured or exhausted they get during the fight, according to The Humane Society of the U.S.
Federal prosecutors said the following defendants each face a charge of aiding, abetting, inducing, and willfully causing another person to sponsor and exhibit an animal in an animal fighting venture.
- Luis Octavio Angulo, 61, of Rialto
- Sergio Jimenez Maldonado, 51, of San Bernardino
- Isidro Chaparro Sanchez, 59, of Corona
- Eva Anilu Pastor Uriostegui, 53, of Moreno Valley
Authorities are still searching for the last defendant, 56-year-old Cirilo Esquivel Alcantar of San Bernardino.
More than 100 people would attend the events at times, according to prosecutors, who allege the attendees were able to place bets on the birds or enter a raffle. They usually paid an entry fee of about $40 and $20 to park at a separate location about a mile away, where they picked up by a shuttle before being driven to the main cockfighting location, prosecutors said.
"Cockfighters paid a fee to enter their roosters into fights – $1,000 for four roosters – and then entered the fighting arena with their roosters when it is their turn to fight," the statement from federal prosecutors says. "Several cockfights took place on a given day."
The Humane Society reports that roosters forced into cockfights suffer injuries such as broken bones, punctured lungs and pierced eyes, with the so-called gaffs attached to their legs sometimes so sharp that cockfighters themselves have died from being accidentally slashed. The nonprofit says gambling is a major motive behind the illegal fights.
"Gambling is the norm at cockfights and the primary reason the fights occur," the Human Society states. "Thousands of dollars can exchange hands as spectators and animal owners wager on the fate of the birds."
Each of the four defendants already arrested were expected to appear in U.S. District Court in Riverside on Monday.
Federal prosecutors said they each face a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison.
The case remains under investigation by the FBI.