CORSICANA, Texas - Nearly 200 people were charged with gambling after officers raided a cockfighting operation Saturday that included bleachers for spectators and even a concession stand, authorities said.
Officers seized $170,000 in cash, about 300 birds, several guns, drugs and enough alcohol to fill the back of a pickup, the Navarro County Sheriff's Department said Sunday.
The owner of the property was charged with felony cruelty to farm animals, according to the sheriff's department.
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said it was the largest seizure of birds it had ever been involved with in Texas.
In Navarro County, officials said 32 officers from the sheriff's department and the Corsicana police SWAT team with search and arrest warrants raided the residence of Adolfo Gabriel Luna on Saturday evening.
Officers said there were 250 to 300 people present, mostly in an outbuilding that appeared built for the sole purpose of conducting chicken fights. Spectators had come from Oklahoma and Louisiana.
The sheriff's department said 196 people had pleaded guilty to gambling charges before a justice of the peace, who opened her court at the scene. Three assistant Navarro County district attorneys were on hand, the sheriff's department said.
Luna, 43, was taken to the county jail to await arraignment, authorities said.
Officers worked through the night, searching several buildings on the 30-acre property about four miles west of Emhouse, and authorities said further charges were possible. The town is about 50 miles south of Dallas.
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said 343 chickens were taken from the facility and would be held until a March 24 hearing before the justice of the peace in Corsicana, who will decide their fate.
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