Cockfighting probe leads to Brooks arrests

Published 11:00 am Thursday, April 5, 2018

QUITMAN — Two people were arrested in Brooks County Sunday in connection with reported cockfights, according to the sheriff’s office.

Jose Moncada Martinez, 48, and Rhoda Yoder, 35, of Morven face several charges of cruelty to animals and possession of tools to commit a crime, said Chief Deputy Joe Wheeler of the Brooks County Sheriff’s Office.

“We had gotten several pieces of information on the fighting of chickens,” he said.

Surveillance caught two people leaving a house on Peach Road in a van, which was stopped on Coffee Road, Wheeler said.

Deputies asked for permission to search the van and found a rooster that was tied up, along with the blades strapped to chickens’ legs in cockfights, he said.

Back at the Peach Road house, agents found chickens and roosters in cages, Wheeler said.

The animals were handed over to animal rescue, he said.

“They’re trying to find homes for the chickens,” Wheeler said.

The Humane Society of Valdosta was asked to find safe places for 60 chickens and roosters that were seized, said Debbie Rumker, Humane Society member.

She said she started contacting people “left and right,” posting on social media and calling friends and families. More than half were adopted the first day, Rumker said.

She made clear the animals couldn’t be killed because “when you have animals that have been abused you don’t want them to be harmed further.”

Terry Richards is an editor at The Valdosta Daily Times.