Cockfighting - 127 birds seized
Santa Fe, TX (US)Incident Date: Sunday, Mar 28, 2004
County: Galveston
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: Manuel Lopez Vargas
A Santa Fe man Monday remained the only person charged in connection with an illegal cockfighting event.
Manuel Lopez Vargas, 52, was being held on $20,000 bond on a charge of cruelty to animals, and remains the only person charged in connection with an illegal cockfighting event. The charge alleges he ran a cockfighting ring that was raided by sheriff's deputies over the weekend of March 28, 2004.
Deputies and Santa Fe police descended upon Vargas' residence about 2:30 p.m. Sunday detaining more than 100 people. Sheriff's office detectives said Mon-day that the cockfighting enterprise was extremely organized and had likely been operating for quite some time.
Authorities stated, the whole thing took place in an old barn designed to hold chickens, with a ring in there and chicken coops that were made out of some pretty old wood.
Participating as a spectator at a cockfight is a Class C misdemeanor according to the SPCA, and law enforcement officials said they hoped that a full forensic investigation would yield additional charges and suspects. Burrows credited the Houston SPCA's insight into such illegal events as invaluable to the ongoing investigation.
"Cockfighting, unfortunately, is fairly common," said Alice Sarmiento, the director of development and community outreach for the Houston SPCA. "In fact, we were called out to a similar bust just last week. In the year and a half since I've been with the organization, though, we haven't seen anything this big."
The Houston SPCA was awarded temporary custody of 127 fighting birds following the bust and will fight in court to receive full custody.
For now, though, the animals remain housed in the SPCA's facilities.
Sunday's bust was perfect example of how the community can put an end to animal cruelty in their neighborhoods, she said.
It was a concerned citizen who called law enforcement in the first place. References« TX State Animal Cruelty Map
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