PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island – Six men were arrested and charged in a five count indictment with violating the Animal Welfare Act by running a cockfighting ring by a federal grand jury.
According to the indictment, Miguel Delgado, 73, hosted a series of cockfights at his home in Providence, Rhode Island on March 6, 2022. He is also charged with sponsoring and exhibiting roosters in an animal fighting venture multiple times, buying and transporting sharp instruments, called gaffs, for use in cockfights and unlawfully possessing roosters for use in an animal fighting venture.
Onill Vasquez Lozada, 39, and Antonio Ledee Rivera, both Rhode Island residents, were charged with unlawfully possessing roosters in April 2021 for use in an animal fighting venture and for sponsoring and exhibiting roosters at the March 2022 derby at Delgado’s home. Rivera was also charged in connection with an earlier derby at Delgado’s home.
Germidez Kingsley Jamie, 31; Jose Rivera, 67; and Luis Castillo, 35, all Massachusetts residents, were charged with sponsoring and exhibiting roosters at an animal fighting venture at the March 2022 cockfight. Jamie and Jose Rivera are also charged with one count of buying and transporting gaffs for use in an animal fighting venture.
Cockfighting is where a person attaches a knife, gaff or other sharp object to the leg of a rooster and then places the bird in close proximity to another, similarly armed bird. The animals then “fight” by stabbing each other with the weapons that are attached to their legs. The cockfight is over when one of the roosters is either dead or refuses to fight the other any longer. It is common for one or both birds to die.
If convicted, the defendants face up to five years in prison. A federal district judge will decide the sentence after reviewing US Sentencing Guidelines and other factors.
Persons accused of crimes are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.