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Case #12096 Rating: 1.0 out of 5
Cockfighting - 35 birds found
Monroe, OR (US)Incident Date: Tuesday, Aug 21, 2007
County: Benton
Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Martin Ramos-Reyes
Case Updates: 5 update(s) available
Corvallis Police have arrested a Corvallis man and charged him with running a cockfighting operation following an investigation that lasted more than a month.
Officers searched the Van Beek Dairy near Alpine and found more than 35 birds.
Police seized as evidence two roosters they said showed signs of having been used for the illegal fights. The rest of the birds were left at the dairy.
Martin Ramos-Reyes, 37, was arrested Tuesday and charged with one count of cockfighting and one count of possession of methamphetamine.
He remains in custody at the Benton County Jail.
Police Lt. Tim Brewer said the investigation revealed Ramos-Reyes had claimed to be making as much as $30,000 a night from people gambling on the fights.
Breeders attach razors up to 3 inches in length to the birds' claws for fighting, according to police Detective Brett Roach. Ramos-Reyes is an employee at the dairy and lives there.
Roach said police believe birds had been bred and raised at the dairy for fighting for several years.
The dairy's owners, brothers Fred and Martin Van Beek, cooperated with the investigation and are not involved in the alleged cockfighting organization, police said.
Cockfighting is new to Benton County, according to Brewer. It could be hard to track because the fights are likely moved from place to place.
"This is the first time it's come to our attention," Brewer said. "It's abusive to animals, and it appears it goes beyond cockfighting; it involves gambling and drug use."
Most states banned cockfighting decades ago. Louisiana became the last to do so, passing a bill this year that becomes effective in 2008.
Case UpdatesA man who was ordered to be deported to Mexico in September for his involvement in a cockfighting operation at a dairy near Monroe was sentenced again in Benton County Circuit Court on Monday for a February hit-and-run crash and parole violation.
Martin Ramos-Reyes, 36, was on supervised probation in Benton County at the time of the crash, after the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency released him pending a January 2009 deportation hearing. Ramos-Reyes had posted a bond of "several thousand dollars," according to ICE spokeswoman Lorie Dankers.
On Monday, April 14, Ramos-Reyes pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months in jail and two years of supervised probation for violating the terms of his parole and for fleeing after hitting a pickup with his vehicle in Corvallis on Feb. 23.
Dankers said ICE has placed a hold on Ramos-Reyes, and he will be back in federal custody after he completes his six-month sentence in Benton County, she said.
"Our criminal alien program prevents people in the country illegally from going back to the general population to commit more crimes," Dankers said. Once a person is in the custody of the federal agency, a federal immigration judge separate from ICE determines at an immigration hearing if the accused will remain in the country.
Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson handled the Monday hearing and outlined Ramos-Reyes' history of criminal convictions. Besides the cockfighting and hit-and-run convictions, Ramos-Reyes has had three DUII convictions, two assault convictions and one conviction for giving false information to police.
"Despite the safeguards put in place in order to ensure the community's safety, it's not stopped," Haroldson said.
Haroldson said he was concerned that Ramos-Reyes has furthered a negative stereotype.
"I cannot say enough about how important it is to understand that this is criminal conduct by one individual," Haroldson said. "It does not represent hard-working Mexican-American immigrants."
Ramos-Reyes was arrested Aug. 21, when Corvallis police and ICE agents investigating a cockfighting ring raided the Van Beek Dairy near Monroe. Six employees of the dairy were taken into federal custody because they were allegedly in the country illegally.
Police found more than 35 birds; about a dozen were roosters and the rest were hens used for breeding. Police seized two roosters and razors, typically attached to the birds' claws for fighting, as evidence.
The hit-and-run incident happened around 4 p.m. Feb. 23 at Ninth Street and Circle Boulevard. Ramos-Reyes was contacted by Corvallis police about 15 minutes later, after being spotted pulling onto Ninth Street from a side road. | Source: Corvallis Gazette - Apr 16, 2008
Update posted on Apr 16, 2008 - 3:01PM |
Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson thought Martin Ramos-Reyes would be deported to Mexico after he pleaded no contest to cockfighting in September.
But Ramos-Reyes, 36, is back in Benton County and is scheduled to be arraigned today for a different crime. He is charged with failure to perform the duties of a driver, a misdemeanor, after allegedly hitting a pickup during a hit-and-run crash in Corvallis on Feb. 23, Haroldson said.
Haroldson said he is frustrated the felon was back in the area and reportedly broke the law again.
"It's the responsibility of the federal government to do their job. We've done ours. Now they have to do theirs," Haroldson said. "I think the feds are going to have to evaluate whether they made the right decision."
Ramos-Reyes, who is awaiting a deportation hearing set for January 2009, was released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after posting a bond of "several thousand dollars," said Lorie Dankers, a spokeswoman for the federal agency.
While the crime to which Ramos-Reyes pleaded no contest is serious, Dankers said, it is not a crime that would subject him to mandatory custody while awaiting his hearing. "Those generally are crimes against individuals, sex crimes, drug crimes, serious crimes," she said.
"In this case, we did what the law allowed us to do," Dankers said.
The hit-and-run crash occurred at Ninth Street and Circle Boulevard about 4 p.m. Feb. 23. Ramos-Reyes was contacted by Corvallis police about 15 minutes later, after being spotted pulling onto Ninth Street from a side road.
He was cited and released because his children were in the vehicle with him, said Lt. Dave Henslee, spokesman for the Corvallis Police Department.
Ramos-Reyes was arrested on a probation violation Thursday when he showed up at the courthouse for a hearing regarding the crash.
He is being held in the Benton County jail with no bail set.
Haroldson also has requested that Ramos-Reyes' ICE bond be revoked and that he be taken back into custody by the federal agency.
Ramos-Reyes was being supervised on probation as a condition of his cockfighting sentence, and was working in Corvallis, said Sgt. Jenna Morrison, a spokeswoman for Benton County Sheriff's Office.
Ramos-Reyes was initially arrested for cockfighting on Aug. 21 at the Van Beek Dairy near Monroe. Federal agents who were involved with the raid on the farm arrested six employees for being in the country illegally.
On Sept. 17, Ramos-Reyes was sentenced to 10 days in jail, with credit for time served, along with the two years probation.
During the sentencing, Haroldson outlined Ramos-Reyes' criminal history, which includes three convictions of DUII and two counts of fourth-degree assault, as well as failure-to-appear cases and probation violations. | Source: Corvallis Times-Gazette - March 29, 2008
Update posted on Mar 29, 2008 - 10:24PM |
A man accused of raising roosters on a Benton County dairy farm and equipping them with razors for fighting pleaded no contest Monday to one count of cockfighting.
Martin Ramos-Reyes, 36, entered the plea in Benton County Circuit Court as part of an agreement that included the dismissal of one count of methamphetamine possession. Both are class C felonies.
Judge Locke Williams sentenced Ramos-Reyes to 10 days in jail with credit for time served and two years of supervised probation, the maximum possible penalty under state sentencing guidelines.
According to District Attorney John Haroldson, Ramos-Reyes will be deported to Mexico.
Ramos-Reyes was arrested Aug. 21, when Corvallis police and federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided the Van Beek Dairy near Monroe. Six employees of the dairy were taken into federal custody because they were allegedly in the country illegally. Ramos-Reyes has been in custody in the Benton County Jail pending the resolution of the criminal charges against him.
At the time of his arrest, police seized two roosters from the dairy that had wounds consistent with fighting while equipped with razors up to three inches in length; one of the roosters was blinded in one eye. Police also seized some of the razors, or "spurs."
During the raid, police also seized what they said were several fake identification documents including Social Security cards and resident alien identification cards. But Ramos-Reyes was never charged in connection with the documents.
Haroldson told the court Ramos-Reyes had a criminal history dating back to 1993, including four convictions. Even though he was in the country illegally at that time, he was not deported until after his fourth conviction. He then reentered the country illegally.
Although he pleaded no contest to the cockfighting charge, Ramos-Reyes told Williams that the state's version of the case was not accurate.
"Everything that is happening here is not exactly as it's being presented," he said through an interpreter.
Ramos-Reyes told the court the confiscated roosters did not receive their wounds from fighting.
"I think a fox may have come in," he said, "because they look like they have been attacked by a wild animal."
Ramos-Reyes also told Williams that when police arrested him, the officers were armed and it frightened his children.
Williams said it was Ramos-Reyes who created the situation.
"It is always unfortunate when children are involved," Williams said. "But it happens when people are engaged in unlawful activity where children are present."
Williams acknowledged that Ramos-Reyes' employers said he was a hard worker and an important part of the dairy.
"Your choice to engage in cockfighting has had a ripple effect on many people," he said, "Your family, your employer and the entire community."
Ramos-Reyes will remain in custody in the Benton County Jail until he can be transferred to federal custody, Haroldson said. | Source: Corvallis Gazette-Times - Sept 18, 2007
Update posted on Sep 18, 2007 - 9:10AM |
A witness to a cockfighting operation at a dairy south of Corvallis saw as many as 200 roosters bred for fighting, according to court documents released Thursday, as well fake identification documents being bought and sold.
Nicole Courser, 25, was living with her boyfriend, Jose Lopez-Perez, who was an employee living at the Van Beek Dairy near Monroe. Courser told members of the Corvallis Police Department and Benton County Sheriff's Office combined Street Crimes Unit about illegal cockfights, some being held in a building at the dairy, according to the documents.
Police arrested the dairy's manager, Martin Ramos-Reyes, on Tuesday and charged him with running a cockfighting organization and possession of methamphetamine. Ramos-Reyes is a Mexican national and is being held in the Benton County jail on $30,000 bail.
Six other dairy workers were taken into custody Tuesday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. They were transported immediately to a federal jail, most likely in Lane County, and will be sent to the ICE center in Tacoma, Wash., according to Benton County Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris Stringer.
Amy Van Beek, whose husband, Martin Van Beek, and brother-in-law, Fred Van Beek, are partners in the dairy, told the Gazette-Times that the owners did not know about a cockfighting operation. Authorities said the Van Beeks cooperated with the investigation.
Courser's mother, Kathy Kentta, told the Gazette-Times she believed she heard a cockfight going on at the dairy a couple of months ago, in a building about 25 feet from her daughter's trailer.
"I was over there seeing my daughter," Kentta said, "and I heard a lot of whooping and hollering in the building. You could hear the chickens fighting."
Kentta said she went over and beat on the outside wall of the building.
"Everything got so quiet, so fast," she said.
The next day, her daughter took Kentta into the building where she heard the fight and showed her at least a dozen roosters.
Courser first contacted the Benton County Sheriff's Office on July 5 to report an assault by her boyfriend. According to Kentta, Courser was at the hospital being treated for injuries she received during the assault when she told deputies about drug deals and cockfights at the dairy.
Courser told officers it was Ramos-Reyes who was breeding the birds and outfitting them for fighting, according to the court documents.
A week later, according to the documents, Courser told a detective from the Street Crimes Unit that she had her boyfriend's fake Social Security card and resident alien identification, both of which had been provided to him by Ramos-Reyes for $300.
Those documents were turned over to police and according to court documents were clearly fakes; the wrong color, containing numerous typographical errors and with text printed upside down.
Police found more of the fakes during their search of Ramos-Reyes' home Tuesday.
"We seized several of what we believe to be faked documents," Corvallis Police Lt. Tim Brewer said. "There were Social Security cards and several other types of ID."
According to the court documents, Courser also told police she had seen the curved knife blades - called gaffs or slashers - designed to be attached to roosters' claws. She said they were between 1 and 3 inches long. She told police Ramos-Reyes boasted of routinely making $25,000 to $30,000 a night on the cockfights.
The court documents said spectators often pay between $100 and $1,000 per person to watch a cockfight.
Fighting roosters can be worth thousands of dollars. Courser told police Ramos-Reyes had claimed one of his roosters was worth $350.
Kentta said Courser moved a few weeks ago to the Portland area, where she has a job.
"I'm glad my daughter is out of there," Kentta said. | Source: Corvallis Gazette-Times - Aug 24, 2007
Update posted on Aug 24, 2007 - 4:21AM |
A 37-year-old man whom police said claimed to make up to $30,000 a night in cockfights has been arrested on charges of running the operation.
Suspect Martin Ramos-Reyes, pictured below, lived and worked at the VanBeek Dairy near Alpine, where officers found more than 35 birds and evidence that two roosters had been used for illegal fights.
Police said the dairy's owners cooperated with the investigation and were not involved in the alleged cockfighting organization.
"I'm surprised that I didn't know (it was going on)," said dairy owner Martin VanBeek.
He said he knew Ramos-Reyes was breeding the birds in the backyard and in a dairy outbuilding, but he said he did not know that alone was illegal. VanBeek also said he did not believe the birds were being used for fighting.
"I'm very surprised by it because it's very contrary to what we're all about," VanBeek said. "We're about animal husbandry."
According to court documents, a search of the dairy led to the discovery of 23 chickens, 12 roosters, DVDs showing cockfighting and catalogs for ordering cockfighting supplies.
A police informant also claims to have seen a black briefcase full of spurs – 1- to 3-inch blades used for cockfighting – in Ramos-Reyes' possession.
"What some people will do is they will attach razors or small knives or some type of implement for killing the other animal," said Corvallis police Lt. Dave Henslee.
According to police, these fights brought in big money. Ramos-Reyes apparently made $30,000 in gambling proceeds off just one cockfight.
Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson said this sort of animal cruelty case is unusual, but he realizes times have changed.
"Nationwide we're starting to see a greater awareness of cases where animals are tortured, whether that's dogs or roosters," he said.
The police investigation into the cockfight also led federal immigration officials to find six undocumented workers at the dairy. They were taken into custody for deportation. | Source: KOMO-TV - Aug 22, 2007
Update posted on Aug 23, 2007 - 1:31PM |
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