Cockfighting
Los Angeles, CA (US)Incident Date: Tuesday, Jul 1, 2008
County: Los Angeles
Charges: Misdemeanor, Felony CTA
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: Israel Ramirez
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
A man has been charged on allegations that he ran a cockfighting ring at his South Los Angeles home.
Israel Ramirez, 52, was arrested Tuesday by officers who received a tip that a cockfight was in progress at his home. Ten alleged spectators were also taken into custody.
Officers with the city's animal cruelty task force found a dead rooster, along with two injured birds that had to be euthanized.
They also seized 50 roosters, a betting spreadsheet, identification bracelets, slasher blades and sparring gloves. They also found a blood-splattered pit where the birds fought, prosecutors said.
Ramirez, who is being held on $70,000 bail, is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday on one felony count of cockfighting, two felony counts of animal cruelty and misdemeanor counts of possession of cockfighting paraphernalia and possession of birds with the intent to fight, the district attorney's office said.
He faces up to five years in prison if convicted of all counts.
Case UpdatesInvestigators have uncovered a cockfighting ring in which the birds may have been shot-up with performance enhancing drugs. It's called a blood sport for a reason. Roosters are equipped with knives to their legs to slash each other up until one wins, and one doesn't.
"These are dead birds. If the bird is a loser of the fight and actually dies, the fights continue with other birds there. So, the dead birds are discarded," according to Los Angeles Police Lt. Tony Lomedico of the Animal Cruely Task Force.
Though you may associate cockfighting with other countries, it's actually happening right here in the Southland. In fact, just last week, investigators served a search warrant on a home in South Central Los Angeles.
When they got behind the home's fence, they found more than one hundred roosters, vitamin supplements, syringes and even steroids.
Because people are gambling with big money on these fights, participants are juicing up their roosters.
"The sad thing about it is that it's cruel to the animals first of all, and these syringes are left on chairs, tables, and in backyards where children are playing" Lomedico says.
Lomedico says children are sometimes also recruited to abuse the animals. For example, the fleshy parts of the roosters, both on the top of their head and under their chin, are cut off for the fights.
"They literally will remove these things, while the animal is not under any kind of anesthetic. They'll actually cut it off with a pair of scissors or a razor blade. We've come across kids, where their job was to do that in fact," according to Lomedico.
For first time offenders, the charge for cockfighting is only a misdemeanor. But, for the first time this week, L.A. County charged a defendant with a felony. That's because the suspect had at least one prior offense. | Source: KTLA - July 4, 2008
Update posted on Jul 6, 2008 - 2:13PM |
References« CA State Animal Cruelty Map
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