In a startling find, deputies with the Potter County Sheriff's Office nabbed over 160 birds bred for combat and arrested two suspects in a cockfighting raid Saturday, according to officials. When the law enforcement stormed onto the property following a dispute alert, they stumbled upon a group of roughly 50 onlookers engrossed in an illegal rooster fighting spectacle in the Byrd Addition of Potter County.
Among the arrested was the alleged ringleader of the barbarous event, Ivan Guadelupe Herrera-Lopez, 43, who was handcuffed and taken to Potter County Detention Center; Juana Sanchez Gonzalez, 41, was also busted on a charge of "Possession of a Controlled Substance", subsequent to a search of the premises that unveiled narcotics amid the chaos, official sources conveyed. The situation on LaRuth Drive unreeled after a call came into the sheriff's office signaling some men were heatedly arguing, and a suspicion pointed to roosters clashing in mortal combat.
Details furnished by MSN indicate that the seized birds were handed over to the Wild West Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, which will assume care for the feathered creatures once subjected to such human-engineered brutality.
What further complicated the case was the sheriff's disclosure that "many" of the onlookers were determined to be "unlawfully in the United States", as per the FOX San Antonio report; this led to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) being notified, who subsequently took custody of these individuals, though the depth of their involvement or potential charges has not been made clear.
The Potter County Sheriff's Office has stated that the investigation into the raid is still unfolding, signaling that authorities may peck away at further layers in what seems to be a multifaceted illegal operation that has crossed the boundaries of animal cruelty and ensnarled issues of immigration violations.
