Cockfighting crackdown – locals charged with federal crimes

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Five south-central Kentucky men have been federally indicted for charges involving cockfighting.

Officials identified organized cockfighting through online investigations, undercover work inside cockfighting pits, and drone surveillance.

Christopher Copas is accused of operating Kentucky Acres Game Farm on Price Chapel Road in Bowling Green for the alleged purpose of breeding, raising, training and selling roosters to participate in cockfighting. 

He is also charged with knowingly possessing a Lorcin Model L25 .25-caliber pistol that had an obliterated serial number.

Don Ray Haley allegedly was operating a rooster-breeding operation on Phillips Road in Elkton, Kentucky, for the purpose of cockfighting.

James Holland and others allegedly operated Possum Hill Gamefowl on Claypool Alvaton Road in Bowling Green for the purpose of cockfighting.

Ramon and Eric Escamilla are charged with conspiracy to violate federal animal-fighting laws. According to the indictment, Ramon Escamilla operated a rooster-breeding operation on Hill Road in Bowling Green, where he and his son, Eric Escamilla, allegedly bred, raised, trained and sold roosters for cockfighting. 

The indictment alleges that the father-son duo exhibited fighting roosters in cockfighting derbies and sold and shipped roosters to customers in Mexico, the Philippines and elsewhere.

These are federal crimes.