Cockfighting - over 130 birds seized
Galloway, OH (US)Incident Date: Thursday, Jun 19, 2008
County: Franklin
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Convicted
Case Images: 1 files available
Defendants/Suspects:
» Gerardo Carmona
» Angel Martinez
» Adolfo Lozano
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
A man who was charged with cockfighting this month could face up to eight months behinds bars.
Search warrants revealed that humane agents found a 'dead rooster' and live roosters with their 'combs and spurs removed' when they searched Gerardo Carmona's Franklin County home.
Cockfighting is a fight to the death that usually only takes two or three minutes because the roosters' legs are fitted with razor blades, 10TV's Maureen Kocot reported.
Undercover sheriff's deputies said that bets on the bloody outcome add up to big money.
"At the end of that tournament, the winner may win $20-30,000," said Franklin County Sheriff's Sgt. Dave Hunt.
Carmona was charged first charged with cockfighting in 2006.
Investigators said Ohio law does little to discourage those accused of cockfighting from doing it again, Kocot reported.
Cockfighting is a felony in 35 states, but is considered a misdemeanor of the fourth degree in Ohio.
"You're looking at 18 months in prison for dog fighting, $100 fine for cockfighting," Hunt said.
If Carmona is convicted of cockfighting this time and is found to have violated his probation, the judge could sentence him to eight months in jail.
Case UpdatesThree men arrested in a Prairie Township raid in June pleaded guilty yesterday to raising more than 130 roosters and hens for sport fighting.
The men were described by their attorneys as illegal immigrants from Mexico living at a farmhouse at 6601 O'Harra Rd., in southwestern Franklin County. Deputy sheriffs raided the property after probation officers for Municipal Judge Harland H. Hale did a random inspection.
"You understand your days of cockfighting are over?" Hale asked each one through an interpreter. "Animal abuse, at least in Ohio, is not legal, and that includes dog fighting and cockfighting."
Geraldo Carmona, 30, Angel Martinez, 22, and Adolfo Lozano, 26, each pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of animal fighting. Each received a $200 fine, 50 hours of community service and probation for five years and was ordered not to keep animals or participate in cockfighting.
In October, Carmona will be sentenced to up to 40 days in jail because he violated his probation on a previous animal-fighting conviction, Hale said. That charge, from 2006, came after neighbors complained about cockfights in the basement of the two-story white clapboard house.
Probation officer Brian Wagner said he and Capital Area Humane Society workers found fighting equipment, pins and 130 game fowl on the property on June 19. Many of the birds had clipped spurs, a sign that they were being trained for fighting with gaffs -- protruding scalpellike knives attached to their legs. One dead rooster was found.
The animals were euthanized as too violent for adoption, Wagner said.
Attorney Bertha Duran said the men had been working in the United States for five years.
Legislators in the Ohio House have approved a bill that makes animal fighting a felony on the first offense, said State Rep. Jim Hughes, R-Columbus. | Source: Dispatch - Sept 4, 2008
Update posted on Sep 6, 2008 - 3:13PM |
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