MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A call reporting a fight between 40 to 50 “armed and dangerous” people on a property deep in southwest Miami-Dade’s rural Redland area Thursday evening instead revealed a cockfighting operation, according to police.
It led to the arrests of three men: Lazaro Deulofeu, 36, of LaBelle; Pedro Deulofeu-Hernandez, 57; and Alexander Ortega-Bermudez, 41, of southwest Miami-Dade.
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According to arrest reports, Miami-Dade Police Department officers were sent to the property, located at 15700 SW 203rd Ave., just before 8 p.m.
Police said officers arrived to find Deulofeu trying to close the gate and keep officers out of the property.
Officers took him into custody, the report states, and as more officers arrived at the scene, people began to scatter and flee.
While sweeping the property, officers discovered a “rooster fighting ring” with a gaming fowl, “a rooster scale, numerous occupied rooster cages and a nearly-dead rooster with obvious signs of injury consistent with fighting, located within a trash can.”
“Additionally, small numbered containers consistent with gambling and bet-placing were observed,” police wrote.
Police said Deulofeu-Hernandez made a spontaneous statement to police and was later taken to a nearby hospital complaining of chest pains and a “panic attack.”
According to the arrest report, Dulofeu claimed to have been merely “playing dominoes” on the property while in town from LaBelle and said he was “just leaving to get more beer.”
“When asked why he attempted to close the gate upon seeing officers arriving, he advised he wanted to know why they were entering the property before allowing them to enter,” police wrote. “Mr. Deulofeu declined any knowledge of a rooster fight (occurring) on the property and claims to have no (involvement) with rooster fighting.”
Police said Ortega-Bermudez first told officers that he was on the property to visit a man named Mario.
“He then advised that he was actually on the property to visit a female he knew by the name of Daliah who wanted to buy a puppy from him,” police wrote.
The report states that he denied any knowledge of cockfighting on the property.
Both Deulofeu and Ortega-Bermudez are facing charges of attending an animal fight, a third-degree felony.
Charges for Deulofeu-Hernandez were not immediately available; he was not listed in Miami-Dade jail or court records and his mug shot was not available online as of Friday afternoon.