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 prosecutors say were forced to fight, sometimes to the death, in an arena while wearing sharp blades known as “hooks” on their legs.
The latest event at the property last Sunday ended abruptly with the arrest of four Inland Empire residents, who are now accused of participating in an unlawful animal fighting activity.
An FBI investigation that lasted nearly a year 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 cockfighting events in Muscoy, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. They each made an initial court appearance Thursday in Riverside and were ordered released on bond.
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 any of the defendants have retained attorneys.
The FBI had been investigating cockfighting activity since May 2023, FBI special agent CJ Sanders said in an affidavit filed in federal court. Sanders said two confidential sources infiltrated the events during cockfighting “season,” which typically runs from January to August.
Attendees paid $20 to park less than a mile from the property and were bused to the Duffy Street house, where they paid another fee to enter the arena where the fights took place, Sanders said. They could place bets on the fights and enter raffles, which offered a set of clubs as prizes.
Among those arrested, authorities say Sanchez made the property available for fights, collected entry fees and made announcements during the events; Alcantar made a lot available for attendees to park; Uriostegui collected entry fees and served drinks at the bar; Angulo collected entry fees from handlers who entered their cocks; and Maldonado refereed the fights.
One of the FBI’s confidential sources, whose name is not mentioned in the affidavit, reported arriving at the property around 7:20 a.m. on a Sunday in May 2023. A video recording the source took captured a taco stand, with the sign “RICOS TACOS ESTILO RANCHO” above it, at the entrance to the stadium and a bar inside where attendees could purchase drinks, according to the affidavit.
Cockfighters were charged $1,000 to enter four cocks into the fights. They were led into a ring surrounded by chairs with a compacted dirt floor enclosed by plywood, Sanders said.
The confidential source reported hearing that the property's hosts were making between $80,000 and $90,000 a month.
A second confidential source made a recorded call to a man who said he had about 100 roosters, which he brought to California from Texas, according to the affidavit.
Another person involved in cockfighting told the source that he and another individual purchased their fighting cocks in Oklahoma and flew them to California.
The second confidential source reported that he was told cockfighting had begun on the property in 2022.
If convicted, the defendants could each face up to five years in prison. They are scheduled to appear in court on September 3.
