TYLER, Texas — A Tyler man was arrested Tuesday after police officers found 16 injured roosters and many items related to cockfighting, including steel spurs and a ledger used to track supplement injections, according to arrest documents.
Roberto Ray Duran, 21, was charged with two counts of cockfighting (space, owns, trains or equipment) and remains in the Smith County Jail on bonds totaling $150,000, records show.
According to an arrest affidavit, police executed a search warrant at a Tyler home where they found Duran and two other people. Upon searching the residence, officers found 16 roosters and several items connected to cockfighting.
Police said in the document those items included an artificial rooster dummy (used to train fighting roosters) and numerous slashers inside the room where the roosters were and Duran's bedroom.
The document explained a slasher is a steel weapon that looks like a curved knife blade designed to be attached to a rooster's feet.
Officers also discovered fighting roosters and some of them had their natural spurs from their feet and the red comb on the top of their heads removed. This is a common practice among fighting rooster breeders, the affidavit read.
In the same room where the roosters and slashers were located, officers found a ledger with information about the roosters. It was titled, "Los Humildes Game Farm," which translates to "The Humble Game Farm." The documentation had the number assigned to each rooster, the breed of bird and who the rooster belonged to, according to the document.
The ledger listed "Robbie," a common nickname for Roberto, as the owner of several of the roosters. Near the ledger, investigators saw a sign showing the type of supplements given to the roosters. The sign listed "steroid", "B12," and "condition," the affidavit detailed.
These supplements are often to used to make the roosters stronger for fighting. NSC, an acronym for the North Side Crips, was written on one of the rooster boxes, the document read.
While talking to officers, Duran confessed that he is a member of the North Side Crips and said he had tattoos showing he was a part of the group, the affidavit said.
