Pasadena : Game Cock Charges Filed

Authorities filed criminal charges against a Pasadena resident who allegedly was raising and training roosters for cockfighting.

Jose Contreras, 37, was found Monday to have nine roosters and nine hens at his house in the 1100 block of Summit Avenue, plus leather spur covers, leg weights, syringes and other items commonly used to train birds to fight, said Endel Jurman, a sworn officer with the Pasadena Humane Society.

The Pasadena city prosecutor’s office charged Contreras with animal cruelty, training animals to fight, possession of game cocks for fighting purposes and violation of four city codes concerning keeping animals at a home, Jurman said. If convicted of all the misdemeanor counts, Contreras could face up to five years in jail and a $5,000 fine, Jurman said.

Contreras told officials he was planning to take the animals to Mexico for breeding, not fighting. Jurman said he found no evidence that illegal cockfights were conducted at the Pasadena home.