POLK COUNTY, Fla. — Fourteen people were busted in what deputies are describing as a gambling and rooster/cockfighting event in Polk County.
Deputies say it happened Wednesday on Cesara Drive near State Road 60 in Mulberry.
Here's how law enforcement officers paint the scene: Men were gambling, rolling dice, and exchanging cash around a wooden table while a 10-year-old child was nearby. Deputies say there was a "trafficking amount of cocaine" and two loaded firearms: an AK-47 and a 12-gauge shotgun.
Seven dead roosters were found on the ground, investigators say.
Nearby, detectives say they found a "disassembled fighting ring," a scale for weighing roosters and chairs for people to watch the fights. Fresh feathers were found on the ground, authorities say, and more were stuck to the sides of the ring.
Cockfighting is illegal in all 50 states but continues to happen. As described by the ASPCA, it's a "blood sport" in which two roosters bred to be aggressive are put beak-to-beak in a small ring and encouraged to fight -- usually to the death. The animals are often fed special diets and given steroids or vitamins to exaggerate their fighting instincts, the ASPCA says.
"Inside a shed on the property, detectives found rubber boxing gloves used to train roosters to fight, knives that are strapped to roosters' legs for fighting to the death, and performance-enhancing drugs for roosters," the sheriff's office explained in an email.
Deputies said they discovered a 55-gallon metal trash barrel that contained the burned bodies of dead roosters. More than 100 roosters were found alive, and many roosters and chickens were removed from the property.
"This is egregious on several levels," Sheriff Grady Judd said. "I’m glad we were able to shut this down.”
The sheriff's office says someone who lived on the property, a 32-year-old man named Jonathan Adam Simouth, was arrested and charged with the following:
- armed trafficking in cocaine
- owning animals for fighting
- operating a property for animal fighting
- illegal gambling
- possession of drug paraphernalia
- contributing to the delinquency of a minor
The other 13 men arrested were charged with attending the fighting of animals, illegal gambling and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Deputies say they are:
- Oscar Pineda (22, Seffner)
- Leonardo Vidal (30, Plant City)
- Luis Alberto Hernandez (32, Tampa)
- Jesus Mora (42, Plant City)
- Esteban Ibarra (29, Dover)
- Freddie Villicana (20, Seffner)
- Troy Flores (24, Mulberry)
- Juan Resendez (27, Plant City)
- Antonio Ramirez (50, Plant City)
- Juan Luis Miranda (33, Lakeland)
- Jose Hernandez (50, Mulberry)
- Alfred Trevino, Jr. (31, Plant City)
- Miguel Lara (32, Dover).
All 14 people were taken to the Polk County Jail in Bartow. The child was turned over to his parents who were not there.
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