Amendment V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc.

Officers raid reputed cockfighting den

By Jim Welte-Half Moon Bay Review--Photo by Jim Welte

As Sgt. Steve Frias of the Peninsula Human Society prepared to cut the padlock off the door of a dilapidated shack near the eastern edge of Grandview Boulevard, he announced that he was serving a search warrant on the property.

In doing so, he had to raise his voice above the screeching din of 45 squawking roosters.

Acting on a tip by Bert Silva, who rents an adjacent piece of land, PHS officials raided the shack Thursday afternoon. Once inside, they found a maze of tiny stalls - subdivided by chicken wire - containing several dozen roosters that authorities said were bred for cockfighting.

According to Frias, PHS officials investigated the shack for several weeks prior to the raid, but no suspects have been identified. Frias and his crew seized 45 roosters, and will hold them for 14 days in the hopes that their owner will come forward to claim them.

"But we don't expect that will happen," he said.

Although some state lawmakers have made overtures to make owning or raising fighting cocks a felony in California, the crime is currently only a misdemeanor. It is, however, a felony in many states throughout the country.

If no owner comes forward, Frias said, the animals will be "humanely destroyed."

Silva, who has leased the land from John Podesta for approximately two years, denied any involvement in the operation, saying, "I don't deal with chickens."

He said that he knew the animals were being kept in the shack, but that he never went back there and never wanted to bother finding out who owned them and why for fear of retribution.

"I don't deal with those kinds of people," he said. "And the only chickens I deal with are at Safeway."

Someone had apparently attempted to steal some of the animals, Silva said, causing their owners to position a loud guard dog at the entrance to the shack.

"If they hadn't put the dog up there, they probably wouldn't have ever gotten caught," Silva said.

Several complaints by nearby residents went first through the Half Moon Bay Police Department to the city's code enforcement officer, Sean Flanagan, who forwarded the case to PHS officials.

Led to the site by Half Moon Bay Police, PHS officials slogged through the muddy terrain adjacent to a daisy field to reach the shack, approximately a half-mile east of Highway 1 just north of Grandview Boulevard.

Once Frias pried the padlock, officials discovered that their initial estimates of 20-25 roosters inside fell short by about half.

"Based on the inherent nature of the animals, that they are very aggressive and are bred for fighting, it is very rare that we find cases like this on view," Frias said.

The shack also contained key evidence that the animals had been used in cockfights, illegal contests on which spectators potentially wage thousands of dollars, according to PHS field supervisor Laurie Feazell.

"We know this is happening throughout the county, but it's rare that we find a setup like this," Feazell said. "A lot of people are afraid to come forward if it's their neighbors who are doing it."

Frias noted that several of the roosters were missing the spurs on their talons. He said that suggests that they had been removed to be replaced by sharpened metal spurs or blades during the cockfights. The insertion of the blades, Frias said, means that most of the cockfights end when one of the combatants kills the other.

PHS officials did not find any blades or spurs.

They did, however, find injectable steroids and B vitamins, syringes, machetes and tethers that could be used to lead roosters to and from the cockfighting "ring," or stage. Feazell was unable to conclusively identify an area used to stage the cockfights.

Many of the roosters in the shack had the combs removed from their heads, which Frias said was done to give a "sportier look to the animal for fighting."

All of the animals, including several hens, appeared in good health, Frias said.

According to Eric Sakach, director of the West Coast region of the Humane Society of the United States, cockfighting is a high-stakes affair these days, particularly in California.

Arizona and Nevada have made the sport a felony, he said, but efforts to increase the charge from a misdemeanor to felony in California have been stifled.

A bill proposed by state Sen. Nell Soto, D-Pomona, would have made a conviction for participation in cockfighting a "wobbler" offense, meaning that a greater degree of one's participation could make it a felony.

Despite nearly universal support, the bill, SB 732, stalled in the Senate's Public Safety Committee, which instead revised the bill to include a mandatory jail term of six months if it was the offender's second conviction of the crime. The bill is still pending in the Legislature.

Sakach said the revised bill would not be a deterrent.

"We see the same faces year after year," he said. "They consider a small fine just the cost of doing business."

Source: http://www.hmbreview.com/display/inn_news/Local_News/story01.txt