Nearly every Sunday from the beginning of the year through the summer, dozens of people gathered at a property on Duffy Street in San Bernardino County, authorities said, frequenting an unlicensed bar and a taco stand.
But the main attraction was betting on roosters, which federal authorities said were forced to fight — sometimes to the death — in an arena while wearing sharp blades called “gaffs” on their legs.
The latest incident at the property last Sunday ended abruptly with the arrest of four Inland Empire residents, who now face charges of involvement in an illegal animal fighting business.
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 Eva Anilu Pastor Uriostegui, 53, of Moreno Valley, who allegedly organized and directed the cockfights in Muscoy, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Both appeared in court in Riverside on Thursday and were released on bail.
Authorities are still searching for Cirilo Esquivel Alcantar, 56, of San Bernardino, who is also accused of participating in the cockfights. Court records do not indicate whether those charged have retained attorneys.
The FBI has been investigating cockfighting since May 2023, FBI special agent CJ Sanders said in a sworn statement filed in federal court. Sanders said two confidential sources infiltrated events during the cockfighting “season,” which typically runs from January to August.
Participants were required to pay $20 to park in a lot less than a mile from the property and be driven to the house on Duffy Street, where they were required to pay another admission fee to enter the arena where the fights were taking place, according to Sanders. They could place bets on the fights and enter a raffle, with a set of gaffs offered as a prize.
Among those arrested, authorities say Sanchez set up the property for the fights, collected entry fees and made announcements during the events; Alcantar set up a lot for participants to park; Uriostegui collected entry fees and served drinks at the bar; Angulo collected entry fees from trainers who entered their roosters; and Maldonado refereed the fights.
One of the FBI’s confidential sources, who was not named in the affidavit, said he arrived at the property around 7:20 a.m. on a Sunday in May 2023. A video recording taken by the source captured a taco stand — with the sign “RICOS TACOS ESTILO RANCHO” above it — at the entrance to the arena and a bar inside where attendees could purchase drinks, the affidavit said.
Trainers were charged $1,000 to enter four roosters into the fights. They brought the birds into a fighting ring surrounded by chairs and a dirt floor surrounded by plywood, Sanders said.
The confidential source reported hearing that hosts at the property earn around $80,000 to $90,000 per month.
A second confidential source made a recorded call to a man who said he owned about 100 roosters, which he brought to California from Texas, the affidavit said.
Another person involved in cockfighting told this source that he and another individual purchased their fighting cocks in Oklahoma and had them flown to California.
The second confidential source reported that he was told that cockfighting began on the property in 2022.
If convicted, the defendants each face up to five years in prison. They are scheduled to be arraigned on September 3.
