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Two days after the news broke that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, actor Steven Seagal, and others were named in a lawsuit stemming from a raid last year where Arpaio and his boys brought the dog-and-pony show to arrest a single cockfighting suspect, the sheriff’s office tried that one again.
This time, it turned out a little better (as far as we know), as the boys in beige arrested a handful of Arpaio’s favorites — people allegedly committing crimes against animals.
Even better — in Arpaio’s mind, at least — 17 of the 40 people arrested are suspected illegal immigrants.
According to the sheriff’s office, the MCSO’s Animal Cruelty Unit got the hot tip about some cockfighting activity going down on the 2400 block of South 6th Avenue, and deputies served a search warrant on the house Saturday night.
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Sure enough, there were 40 dudes there, along with 23 birds, knives for the birds, and cocaine, the sheriff’s office says.
Some of the 23 birds were dead or badly injured.
Arpaio says he “take[s] cockfighting seriously,” and will continue sending his deputies after cockfighting operations.
He also offers a reminder to the non-American crowd that cockfighting’s illegal here.
“While these fights may be acceptable in other countries, it remains illegal here,” he says.
