Cockfighting - 500 birds seized
Berino, NM (US)Incident Date: Saturday, Apr 4, 2009
County: Dona Ana
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged:
» Ramon R. Torres - Convicted
» Ernesto Torres
» Armando Rosales
» Guillermo Torres
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
Authorities raided seven properties suspected of being cockfighting sites in Doña Ana County on Saturday, seizing about 500 birds and charging four men.
Ramon Torres, 46, Ernesto Torres, 46, Armando Rosales, 44, and Guillermo Torres, age unknown, all of Berino, were each charged with a petty misdemeanor. It was not known if the suspects are related.
Doña Ana County Animal Control supervisor Curtis Childress said felony charges were pending and he expected further arrests following the raids.
Childress said the birds found at the properties all were used for cockfighting.
Most of the animals were in good shape, but some had had their combs and spurs removed for fighting, he said.
Agents conducting the raid said that despite the yearlong ban on cockfighting in New Mexico, profits from cockfighting remain a factor in its persistence.
Childress expected the birds, which had been pumped with steroids, vitamins and painkillers, to be euthanized.
Case UpdatesThe first-ever jail sentence for cockfighting charges in Do-a Ana County was handed down this week, county animal control director Curtis Childress said.
Magistrate Court Judge Oscar Frietze sentenced Ramon R. Torres, 44, of Berino, to 180 days in jail and a $500 fine -- with 172 days and $300 suspended -- after a 3-1/2 hour bench trial Tuesday.
Cockfighting was banned in New Mexico in 2007 but is only a petty misdemeanor for the first offense. The level of the crime increases to a full misdemeanor for a second offense and a felony for a third or subsequent offense.
Torres, of 160 Salt Bush Drive, was charged as part of a massive, multi-residence bird seizure in April. Another man arrested at another residence on Salt Bush Drive has already pleaded guilty to cockfighting charges, Childress said.
Torres' attorney, who could still appeal, argued Torres didn't know it was illegal to equip and prepare birds for fighting, Childress said.
The decision to include jail time in a cockfighting sentence has drawn high praise from the legislative director of Animal Protection of New Mexico Inc. and Animal Protection Voters.
"This sends a strong message to the cockfighting community, there will be serious consequences for violating the cockfighting law passed in 2007," said Heather Ferguson. "Cockfighters need to get out of this vile business because law enforcement and prosecutors are not going to let these guys off with a slap on the wrist. The citizens of New
Mexico want this scourge and the other criminal vices that come along with cockfighting, out of their community."
Ferguson, also a member of the New Mexico Attorney General's Animal Cruelty Task Force, said the Do-a Ana Sheriff's Department deserved credit for what she called "tremendous work eradicating illegal animal fighting." | Source: Las Cruces Sun-News - Oct 15, 2009
Update posted on Oct 15, 2009 - 11:22AM |
References
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