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Advocate: Make cockfighting a felony
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Police found evidence of more cockfighting Thursday on the South Side.
Members of the Community Police Unit and the vice squad found several birds used for fighting while serving a search warrant at 576 E. Lucius Ave. about 5:30 p.m.
Police Chief Robin Lees said officers found more than 30 fighting birds inside the home. They also found steroids used to bulk up the birds, help them heal from injuries or make them more aggressive.
The warrant was served after CPU and the vice squad did a crime sweep on the North Side, Lees said.
Detective Sgt. Pat Kelly, head of the CPU, said the investigation into the activity at 576 E. Lucius Ave. took about two weeks, and humane agents from Animal Charity and the Mahoning County Dog Warden’s office also helped out. A confidential informant provided the tip, he said.
The chickens, some of which had wounds, were transported in carriers to the Happy Trails Farm animal sanctuary in Ravenna; and some mixed-breed dogs at the home were taken to the Animal Charity of Ohio facility in Youngstown, said Dave Nelson of the dog warden’s office, who assisted police.
Describing the scene, Nelson said there were several family members, including young children in the home, and birds were in upstairs and basement rooms. One room, about 6-by-6 feet, had bloodstained carpeted walls. Nelson believes this room was used for training or fighting.
Nelson said there are more cockfighting locations in the area.“Hopefully, the police will take down more of them,” he said.
Police Lt. Gerard Slattery, head of the vice squad, said three dogs were seized at the home. He said three children, ranging from age 7 to a teenager, and two adults were in the home when the warrant was served.
Animal Charity and the dog warden’s office will confer with prosecutors before filing charges, Slattery said.
No one was taken into custody Thursday.
On Tuesday, U.S. marshals looking for a man found several birds dead and alive at a home in the 2900 block of Myron Street and other items they say were used to fight the birds. The man has since turned himself in on charges unrelated to the birds.
Lees said although cockfighting is not very common in the city, he knew that once one operation was found, it was only a matter of time before another one would be discovered.
“It’s uncommon, but the fact is at the same time we found the one, we figured there would be another one,” he said.
Lees said he did not want to speculate if there are any more cockfighting operations in the city. He did say it is very unusual to find two of them within two days.
Making cockfighting a felony in Ohio could drive away people who like to have the fights here because of weak laws, an animal-rights advocate says.
Corey Roscoe, Ohio state director of the Humane Society of the United States, said Thursday there is a bill pending, House Bill 215, that would make the practice an unclassified felony, and she urged its passage as quickly as possible.
Cockfighting is now only a first-degree misdemeanor in Ohio with a maximum jail sentence of six months.
Roscoe’s comments come in the wake of the discovery of several live and dead birds Tuesday in a Myron Street home on the East Side that authorities say were part of a cockfighting ring.
The birds were discovered when U.S. marshals came to the home looking for Juan Tufino, 24, who was wanted on warrants for escape, a second-degree felony, and misdemeanor counts of domestic violence and resisting arrest.
Tufino was not there, but he surrendered to authorities at the Mahoning County jail on Wednesday. He had been on the run since Saturday. He is out on bond and expected to be arraigned in municipal court today.
He currently does not face any charges associated with cockfighting. Humane agents investigating the case couldn’t be reached Thursday for comments.
Roscoe said a House committee passed HB 215 last summer, but it is awaiting action by the full House.
She said making cockfighting an unclassified felony would free judges from having to impose mandatory jail sentences but allow them to increase financial penalties to up to $10,000 against people who participate in such activity.
Since the fights generate lots of money because they are accompanied by gambling, Roscoe said financial penalties would sting defendants the most.
“That’s really hitting them where it counts,” Roscoe said.
Roscoe said cockfighting is a felony in all the states surrounding Ohio. Because of the low level of penalties in Ohio, she said that makes the state attractive to people who want to have the fights because they do not face serious punishment.
“We know they’re coming into Ohio to do this because the penalties are weak,” Roscoe said. “So we’re becoming a magnet for this illegal activity.”
Dating back to 2014, data supplied by Roscoe shows two cockfighting incidents reported by law enforcement in Medina County, one in Cleveland and one in Fulton County, where of 52 people arrested, only nine were from Ohio.