Four San Luis Obispo County residents were arrested after detectives from the Sheriff’s Department busted two allegedly related cockfighting facilities in rural Morro Bay and Los Osos.
According to Cmdr. Aaron Nix, the men were arrested on suspicion of cruelty to animals and raising fowls for fighting. He said more than 210 birds were recovered at the residences after officers received a tip from a confidential informant that they were being used as a training facility.
On Feb. 29, officers served search warrants at two rural residences on Atascadero Road in Morro Bay and the 1500 block of 16th Street in Los Osos.
Officers arrested Los Osos residents Edison Aurelio, 52, and Emilio Yadao Ingan, 72; Nipomo resident Henry Ramiscal, 57; and Elmer Ingan, 37, of Grover Beach.
As of press time, the District Attorney’s Office had yet to file charges on the four, and none of the arrested men remained in county jail. A DA’s Office spokesman could verify the status of their cases of press time.
Nix told New Times it didn’t appear the two locations were being used for actual cockfighting, but he said officers found evidence—such as dummy birds, spurs, sparring muffs, and cheap medication consistent with that used to stop bleeding during fights—that they were being used as a “training facility.” He added that many of the birds were injured and that wounds had been “crudely patched up.”
Officers also recovered an illegal TEC-9 semi-automatic pistol at one of the residences.
The roosters were handed over to the county’s division of animal services following the raids. Unfortunately, Nix said, most of the birds will likely be euthanized, as is usually the case with confiscated game cocks trained for fighting.
Although this is the first reported incident involving cockfighting in the county this year, Nix said the department typically conducts about three cockfighting-related investigations a year.
“Unfortunately, it’s something that’s still fairly common in the rural areas of our county,” he said.
This article appears in Apr 5-12, 2012.
