75-year-old Pa. man charged with cockfighting

DAISYTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A 75-year-old southwestern Pennsylvania man was charged with breeding cockfighting roosters after he bragged about it to an FBI agent who came to his property on unrelated business.

But the man’s attorney contends that although his client still has the birds, he stopped supplying cockfights some time ago.

“That’s ancient history,” defense attorney Martin Dietz told The Associated Press today about the charges against his client, Thomas MacFann of West Pike Run Township, about 20 miles south of Pittsburgh.

MacFann was charged by a state police-organized crime task force with animal cruelty and possessing instruments of crime. The charges were filed Friday, but were based on information police gathered during an Aug. 8 raid of MacFann’s farm and statements he made to the FBI on May 9.