POLK COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — Twelve men and a woman were arrested Saturday at a ‘bloody’ cock-fighting event in Frostproof, Florida, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said.
The arrests came after detectives from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office Agriculture Crimes Unit obtained a search warrant for 1940 West Frostproof Road and found bloody roosters, a fighting ring, acrylic spurs, vitamins, antibiotics, performance enhancing drugs, and blood-clotting ointments.
The residents of the property and owners of the roosters were identified as Jorge Luis Ocasio-Montanez and Carmen Idalia Rivera-Rodriguez, both 56. The two were charged with owning equipment for animal fighting, promoting animal fights, owning animals for fighting, and operating a property for animal fighting.
The other eleven men arrested were identified as Samuel Rosario Maisonet, 18, Ramon Rivera-Ortiz, 71, Eleazar Jimenez-Laporte, 44, Paulino Adelso Borgen-De Jesus, 56, Victor Manuel Montes-Maldonado, 39, Wilfredo Rivera-Herrera, 61, Jose Guadalupe Martinez-Martinez, 38, Leasiv Pantoja, 38, Rafael Marquz-Baez, 56, Johnathan ernesto Colon-Portilatin, 25, and Jose Angel Garcia-Baez, 52.
“We appreciate the tip we received about this cock-fighting event,” Sheriff Grady Judd said. “Keeping and fighting these animals for the purpose of gaming and profit will not be tolerated. It’s extremely violent and cruel to the birds. I’m glad we were able to shut this down.”
All 13 suspects were transported to the Polk County Jail in Bartow.
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