face gambling or drug charges
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
BRYAN DENSON
The Oregonian
The U.S. government unsealed indictments Monday that accuse 63 people of taking part in a vast blood sport operation, staging a dozen cockfight derbies in rural outposts across Oregon and Washington the past two years.

Each of the clandestine derbies featured a series of cockfights, with promoters arranging bouts and taking cuts of about 10 percent, according to court records. "Pitters" handled birds in the fighting pits, referees called the fights, concessionaires hawked beer and food, and spectators made side bets, the government alleges.

Fighting birds that won all their bouts -- often crippling or killing opponents with knives or gaffs attached to their legs -- were declared winners, and top purses sometimes reached into the tens of thousands of dollars.

U.S. Attorney Karin Immergut, Oregon's chief federal prosecutor, described the case as the largest of its type in the Northwest and the region's most expansive investigation into alleged violations of the Animal Welfare Act.

"Cockfighting is a brutal sport, and it also has strong ties to other kinds of criminal activities, such as gambling and drug dealing," Immergut said. "It carries serious public health risks, and it's a classic case of cruelty and abuse of animals."

According to 17 indictments filed in the case, 51 people had various roles in violating the federal Animal Welfare Act by sponsoring, exhibiting, transporting and gambling on fighting cocks, often after traveling over state lines.

The first of the cockfighting derbies took place in Molalla on March 11, 2006, and the last four were held in Grand Ronde between June 23, 2007, and Jan. 12, 2008. Other derbies were held in the Oregon towns of Warm Springs, Woodburn and Sunny Valley and the Washington towns of Wapato, Sunnyside and Prosser.

Five of the men accused of taking part in the cockfights also are accused of taking part in drug trafficking organizations, using the gatherings to promote the sale of cocaine and methamphetamine, said Kenneth Wolters, resident agent-in-charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Salem office.

Sometimes, Wolters said, they used money from drug sales to bet on the birds.

Huge task force

A mammoth task force of federal, state, county and city police agencies -- more than 500 law enforcement officers and support staffs -- took part in some aspect of the two-year investigation and weekend raids in both states. The investigation was dubbed "Operation Red Rooster" in Oregon and "Operation Tattered Wing" in Washington.

At 6 a.m. Saturday, police swept into 28 homes and barns from southern Oregon to the Puget Sound. They seized more than 700 roosters in Klamath County, at least $100,000 in cash, 50 guns, 2.5 pounds of meth, 1.5 pounds of cocaine, 6 pounds of marijuana and 48 marijuana plants, authorities said.

Police armed with machine guns and body armor stormed the home of 57-year-old John A. Robertson Jr. in Willamina, training a gun on the head of a 10-year-old boy they found in the bathroom, the boy's mother, Elaine Labonte said Monday. Robertson was already handcuffed on the ground, she said, and her son was traumatized.

"None of that was necessary," said Labonte, who attended an arraignment Monday in U.S. District Court.

Another eight officers, guns drawn, showed up at the Woodburn farm of Benjamin Garcia, 47, one of 14 people accused of taking part in both cockfighting and gambling, according to his son, Julio Caesar Garcia. The elder Garcia was off the property at the time, getting medicine for a cow, he said.

Julio Garcia, found working in the barn Monday, said his father is accused of renting his barn to cockfighting promoters. Julio Garcia said he had no idea whether there was any truth to the allegations.

Thirty-six defendants were arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Dennis J. Hubel, including 61-year-old Sergio Gonzalez-Brizuela of Woodburn, described by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Peifer as a leader of the cockfighting operation.

Peifer told Hubel the government collected more than 100 hours of audio and video inside the cockfights.

Operations Red Rooster and Tattered Wing were headed by agents assigned to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office of the Inspector General. It was the agency's third major investigation of animal fighting in the past two years and only the second prosecution in the nation under a new federal law that made cockfighting a felony.

Blumenauer's role

U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., was a key player in the passage of the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act, signed May 3, 2007. Blumenauer said getting the law passed was an uphill battle against a powerful but "subterranean" group of lobbyists and good ol' boys who believe animal fighting is part of the American tradition.

Last year's high-profile investigation into Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick for dogfighting marked a turning point in passage of the law, he said, and introduced Americans to the nature of blood sports.

"It's not just that it's the most barbaric practice imaginable, but it is tied to a whole host of other illegal activities," Blumenauer said.

"When these rings are busted -- and there's far more going on than is actually prosecuted -- there are large amounts of cash, illegal drugs and gang violence," he said. "It's not just a few chickens pecking at each other."

Susan Goldsmith of The Oregonian contributed to this story.

Bryan Denson: 503-294-7614; bryandenson@news.oregonian.com

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonia ... xml&coll=7

Unfortunately, within the actual hard copy article, there was a list which does not show up on the online copy. This list shows all 63 accused, it lists the charges, which range from just the cockfighting up to that plus drug trafficking/cockfighting/illegal gambling.