Dozens of people gathered at a property on Duffy Street in San Bernardino County almost every Sunday from the beginning of the year into the summer, frequenting an unlicensed bar and a taco stand, authorities said.
But the main attraction is gambling on the roosters, which federal authorities say are built to fight — and sometimes die — in the arena while wearing sharp blades called “spikes” on their legs.
The last event held at the property last Sunday came to an abrupt end with the arrest of four Inland Empire residents who are now accused of participating in an illegal animal fighting operation.
A nearly year-long FBI investigation led to the arrests of Isidro Chaparro Sanchez, 59, of Corona; Luis Octavio Angulo , 61, of Rialto; Sergio Jimenez Maldonado, 51, of San Bernardino; and, of Moreno Valley, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office Eva Anilu Pastor Uriostegui, 53, allegedly organized and hosted cockfights in Moscow. The pair made their first court appearance in Riverside on Thursday and were ordered bail.
Authorities are still searching for Cirilo Esquivel Alcantar, 56, of San Bernardino, who is also accused of participating in the cockfighting. Court records do not indicate whether anyone facing charges has retained an attorney.
The FBI has been investigating the cockfighting enterprise since May 2023, FBI Special Agent CJ Sanders said in an affidavit filed in federal court. Sanders said two confidential sources infiltrated the operation during the cockfighting “season,” which typically runs from January to August.
Sanders said attendees pay $20 to park less than a mile from the property and then take a shuttle to the home on Duffy Street, where they pay another fee to enter the fight. arena. They can place bets on boxing matches and enter raffles, receiving a set of gaffs as prizes.
Of those arrested, authorities said Sanchez used the property for the tournament, charging admission fees and making announcements during the event; Alcantar provided numerous parking spaces for attendees; Uriostegui charged admission fees and served drinks at the bar; Ann Gullo charged an admission fee to the breeders who raised the roosters; Maldonado served as contest referee.
A confidential FBI source, who was not named in the affidavit, reported arriving at the property around 7:20 a.m. on a Sunday in May 2023. Arriving at a taco stand with the words “RICOS TACOS ESTILO RANCHO” above it – at the entrance to the arena and a bar inside where attendees could purchase drinks, according to the affidavit.
Breeders pay $1,000 to enter four roosters in the competition. Sanders said they took the birds to a fighting arena surrounded by chairs, hard-packed dirt on the floor and surrounded by plywood.
Confidential sources said the property’s landlord was said to be making about $80,000 to $90,000 a month.
According to testimony, a second confidential source made a recorded phone call to a man who said he owned about 100 roosters that he had brought to California from Texas.
Another person involved in the cockfighting told the source that he and another person purchased the cockfighting birds from Oklahoma and flew them to California.
A second confidential source said he was told cockfighting began at the property in 2022.
If those charged are convicted, each could face up to five years in prison. They are scheduled to go to trial on September 3.
