Deputies raid cockfight near Mabelvale; 11 arrested

The Saline County sheriff's office arrested 11 people Sunday in a cockfighting ring in rural Mabelvale.

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The agency, acting on an anonymous tip, responded shortly after 11 a.m. to the 9100 block of Lee Lane, northwest of King Lake. Department spokesman Lt. Jeff Silk said deputies found at least 30 people, some of them children, who had been attending cockfights in a wooded area off the road.

Many of those people reportedly fled. But 11 of them -- including residents of Little Rock, White Hall, Pine Bluff and Mabelvale -- were arrested on charges of unlawful animal fighting, a felony.

Leovardo Huerto, 27, of White Hall, was additionally charged with possession of a firearm by certain persons.

The sheriff's office reported finding a loaded handgun at the scene, as well as $2,500 cash, ledger books and razor spurs, talon-like blades that are wrapped around a chicken's legs for fighting.

Silk said it appears the cockfights had been going on for "some time." How long, he said, is part of the ongoing investigation.

"When you look at the pit, or whatever you want to call it, they didn't put that thing up at 10 o'clock Sunday morning. That's been there for a while ... based on the evidence that we found," he said.

Fights took place about 100 yards past a treeline in a circular pit built from plywood, according to the department. Silk said the pit was accessed by a dirt road that had been blocked off by a vehicle Sunday.

"They were kind of slick. They parked a vehicle intentionally on that road so no other vehicles could get down there," he said.

Five chickens had been freshly killed when the sheriff's office arrived. Twenty-five others were transported to Benton Animal Control, while another 10 evaded capture.

Animal control Director Terry Parsons said the captured chickens were "pretty docile" and "in good health." He said Monday afternoon that a local farmer had adopted them.

"They'll be at her place and she'll take care of them and put them in her flock," he said.

In addition to Huerto, those charged in the cockfights are: Jorge Juarez, 26; Hieu Tan Duong, 27; Orlando Melgarejo, 56; Frank Christian Nichols, 58; Martin Torres, 40; Maria Hernandez, 41; Franciso Antonio Arevalo, 43; Douglas DeWayne Robertson, 53; Thien Nguyen, 41; and Damacio Valadez Fernando, 48.

Arevalo, Duong, Nguyen and Robertson had each posted bail and been released from the Saline County jail late Monday.

Metro on 08/18/2015

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