RIVERSIDE, California — Four Inland Empire residents have been arrested on a federal criminal complaint alleging they organized and ran cockfighting events in San Bernardino County.
The defendants, who were arrested Sunday at a cockfighting event, are charged with aiding, abetting, inducing, and willfully causing another person to sponsor and exhibit an animal in an animal fighting venture. They are expected to make their initial appearances this afternoon in United States District Court in Riverside.
The individuals arrested are 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. Law enforcement is also looking for Cirilo Esquivel Alcantar, 56, of San Bernardino, who is charged in this case.
According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, the defendants organized and facilitated cockfighting events in Muscoy. These events were held on Sundays during the cockfighting “season,” which generally runs from January to August. The events drew more than 100 attendees at times, who paid $20 to park at a location nearly one mile away and were then shuttled to the cockfighting site, where they paid an additional $40 to enter the arena.
