KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas — 95 animals were seized from a Kaufman County property in connection with a cockfighting investigation.
KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas — 95 animals were seized from a Kaufman County property in connection with a cockfighting investigation.
The SPCA of Texas began investigating the case earlier this year and, on August 2, 2018, seized and took custody of 95 animals including 45 roosters, 45 hens, three dogs, and two chicks, SPCA of Texas spokesperson Madeline Yeaman told inForney.com.
"On September 11, 2018, the SPCA of Texas filed two cases in reference to cockfighting, including one charge of 'owns or trains a cock with the intent that the cock be used an exhibition of cockfighting' and one charge of 'manufactures, buys, sells, barters, exchanges possesses, advertises, or otherwise offers a gaff, slasher, or other sharp implement designed for attachment to a cock with the intent that the implement be used in cockfighting,'" she said.
The Kaufman County District Attorney's Office generated the arrest warrants and 56-year-old Barry Cook of Elmo, Texas, was arrested and booked into the Kaufman County Jail on the two class A misdemeanor charges on September 27, 2018.
One charge was later dropped and, on October 3, 2018, Cook pled guilty to one count of cockfighting, owns or trains a cock with the intent that the cock be used an exhibition of cockfighting, and was sentenced by County Court at Law Judge Dennis Jones to one year deferred adjudication and ordered to perform 40 hours of community service.
In August 2018, Cook pled guilty to deadly conduct, also a class A misdemeanor, and was sentenced by Jones to nine months deferred adjudication with 24 hours of community service.