All 32 people arrested in connection with a raid on a cockfighting ring were charged Tuesday in Cass County with being spectators at an animal fight.
Cass County Attorney S. Colin Palm said 30 men and two women were charged with viewing cockfighting, a felony punishable by up to three years in prison. Bail was set for all 32 defendants, and many of them have been released from jail, he said.
Some of those arrested have holds placed on them by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for possibly being in the country illegally, Palm said. That means that even if those suspects make bail, they could be sent to federal detention facilities.
The Cass County Sheriff’s Office is still investigating the incident, Palm said. Authorities are attempting to determine who organized the event.
Deputies from the sheriff’s Office and Nebraska State Patrol troopers went to the farm at 11317 U.S. Highway 50 about 12:30 p.m. Saturday after the Nebraska Humane Society received an anonymous tip. Officers arrived and spotted numerous cars parked on the property.
The Humane Society seized 186 live roosters. Authorities also found 11 dead roosters and another rooster that had to be euthanized at the scene.
