![\"Titus](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.animals24-7.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picsart_25-03-19_22-16-06-278-e1742447888888.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n MOUNT PLEASANT, Texas\u2013\u2013<\/strong>Alleged collusion between cockfighters and law enforcement rarely looks more brazen than on March 15,\u00a0 2025,\u00a0 80 miles east of Dallas.<\/p>\n \u201cLocal Law Enforcement Allows Massive Assembly of Cockfighters to Escape After Animal Wellness Groups Uncover and Document Fighting Derby in Progress in Titus County Last Saturday,\u201d\u00a0 bannered Animal Wellness Action and Showing Animals Respect & Kindness at the top of a March 19,\u00a0 2025 joint media release.<\/p>\n Animal Wellness Action and Showing Animals Respect & Kindness [SHARK] \u201cexpressed grave disappointment that the Titus County Sheriffs\u2019 Office failed to request a search warrant to enter a cockfighting complex in Titus County, Texas, \u00a0after the two non-profit organizations documented the presence of the animal fighting venture there\u201d on March 15,\u00a0 2025.<\/p>\n Tim Thompson.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/em>(Facebook photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cOn that date,\u201d\u00a0 the media release explained, \u00a0\u201csheriffs\u2019 deputies did respond in force when alerted to the illegal animal fighting derby at the home of Tim Thompson,\u201d\u00a0 long a notorious cockfighting advocate,\u00a0 \u201cbut the cockfighters locked the gate upon the arrival of the police,\u00a0 requiring the law enforcement officers to obtain a warrant to enter, \u00a0gather evidence, and make arrests.<\/p>\n \u201cA senior law enforcement officer, who was not at the crime scene,\u201d\u00a0 specifically Sheriff\u2019s Lieutenant Craig Brown,\u00a0 \u201cappears to have unilaterally determined there was not probable cause of a crime in progress,\u201d\u00a0 the Animal Wellness Action and Showing Animals Respect & Kindness media release said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt turns out that the officer is a Facebook friend of the property owner,\u201d \u00a0Tim Thompson,\u00a0 \u201cwho maintains two massive gamecock farms and a fighting pit at the property.\u201d<\/p>\n Left: Lieutenant Craig Brown.<\/strong><\/em> Beth Clifton of ANIMALS 24-7<\/strong>,\u00a0 a former Miami Beach police officer,\u00a0 turned up the evidence of the Facebook friendship between Thompson and Brown within 30 seconds of hearing both names for the first time,\u00a0 and found quite a lot more within a matter of minutes.<\/p>\n Craig Brown,\u00a0 hired by the Titus County sheriff\u2019s department in March 2009,\u00a0 was promoted to sergeant in 2013 by former Titus County sheriff Tim Ingram, \u00a0and was promoted again by current Titus County sheriff Chris Bragg to head the sheriff\u2019s department detective bureau in January 2025.<\/p>\n Bragg also,\u00a0 incidentally,\u00a0 is Facebook friends with Tim Thompson.<\/p>\n One might reasonably expect the head of a law enforcement detective bureau to detect at least as much about the illegal cockfighting activities of a purported friend over several years,\u00a0 especially while living and working in the same county,\u00a0 as Beth Clifton discovered almost immediately,\u00a0 especially when that purported friend,\u00a0 Tim Thompson,\u00a0 has a gamecock as his profile picture,\u00a0 appearing on every one of his posts.<\/p>\n (Tim Thompson photo, from Facebook)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Many of Tim Thompson\u2019s Facebook posts,\u00a0 moreover,\u00a0 allude to cockfighting and raising gamefowl.\u00a0 Cockfighting has been illegal in Texas since 1907,\u00a0 and has been a felony since 2011,\u00a0 along with raising fighting gamecocks.\u00a0 Attending cockfights or possessing cockfighting paraphernalia are misdemeanors.<\/p>\n Among the multitude of Tim Thompson posts associating himself with cockfighting,\u00a0 Thompson posted a photograph of a boy apparently in his early teens,\u00a0 among chickens with rooster hutches in the background.<\/p>\n \u201cSo glad to see Chan in chicken yard,\u201d\u00a0 Tim Thompson captioned the photo.\u00a0 \u201cIf more young kids loved gamefowl this world would be so much better off\u2026Raising chickens keeps this boy out of a lot of trouble,\u201d\u00a0 at least so long as the local sheriffs fail to enforce the law.<\/p>\n Note:\u00a0 gamecocks are tethered to rooster hutches,\u00a0 one to a hutch,\u00a0 to keep them from fighting before they are thrown into a pit to fight.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n On October 15, \u00a02015,\u00a0 Tim Thompson posted a photo captioned,\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re looking for someone to paint a gamecock on the end of these carry boxes.\u201d<\/p>\n A \u201ccarry box\u201d is used to transport roosters to cockfights.<\/p>\n During the years 2016-2017,\u00a0 Tim Thompson posted at least four memes from an entity calling itself \u201cCockers against the HSUS and PETA.\u201d<\/p>\n Tim Thompson in January 2016 posted \u201cRe-elect sheriff Tim Ingram,\u201d\u00a0 who was the Titus County sheriff before Chris Bragg.<\/p>\n There appears to be no record of Ingram ever busting a cockfight,\u00a0 but there is record of one of his jail staff being arrested in June 2021 for allegedly stealing from an inmate,\u00a0 and of Titus County flunking a July 2021 inspection by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, \u00a0on multiple criteria.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cSomething smells rotten in Titus County, \u00a0and it is not the decaying bodies of birds slashed and stabbed to death at the cockfighting pit there,\u201d\u00a0 Showing Animals Respect & Kindness founder Steve Hindi told media,\u00a0 having spent a frustrating day on March 15,\u00a0 2025 documenting the biggest cockfight he had ever seen in decades of exposing cockfights,\u00a0 while the Titus County sheriff\u2019s department allegedly did not even attempt to obtain a search-and-seizure warrant.<\/p>\n Texas,\u00a0 incidentally,\u00a0 is a \u201ccivil forfeiture state,\u201d\u00a0 meaning that law enforcement agencies may claim and sell any property found to have been used in the commission of a felony by someone convicted of the felony.<\/p>\n By actual count of Hindi and Animal Wellness Action representative Kevin Chambers,\u00a0 who was also on the scene,\u00a0 225 vehicles were parked around the metal-clad shed housing the alleged cockfight.\u00a0 Among them were about two dozen trailers and even more new pickup trucks brought to the scene\u2013\u2013as Showing Animals Respect & Kindness drone video shows\u2013\u2013by alleged cockfighters with their gamefowl.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The forfeiture value at auction of the vehicles videotaped bringing gamefowl to the scene would easily have been in excess of half a million dollars,\u00a0 perhaps more.<\/p>\n That is not even counting the potential forfeiture value of gambling money,\u00a0 admission fees,\u00a0 firearms,\u00a0 and illegal contraband such as drugs and cockfighting gaffs that might have been found at the scene,\u00a0 had the Titus County sheriff\u2019s office obtained a search-and-seizure warrant.<\/p>\n Narrated Animal Wellness Action president Wayne Pacelle,\u00a0 \u201cSHARK obtained a schedule of fighting events to occur at the private property near Mount Pleasant,\u201d\u00a0 the Titus County seat.<\/p>\n \u201cAnimal Wellness Action and SHARK investigators, acting on that tip, \u00a0investigated the site and uncovered a major cockfighting complex, with a fighting pit, \u00a0two gamecock farms, \u00a0and dozens of cock houses, \u00a0which temporarily house fighting birds.\u201d<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cSheriffs\u2019 deputies were ready to take action,\u201d\u00a0 said Hindi,\u00a0 naming Titus County sheriff\u2019s deputy Randy Underwood,\u00a0 \u201cbut a senior official stymied their efforts and put the community at risk by not seeking a warrant to arrest the perpetrators of these animal cruelty crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n Responding to calls from Hindi and Chambers,\u00a0 \u201cfour marked vehicles from the Titus County Sheriffs\u2019 Office responded,\u201d\u00a0 Hindi said, \u00a0\u201cand our team showed them the aerial footage of the cockfighters\u2019 setup. But that\u2019s when someone in the sheriffs\u2019 office chose not to turn the team loose to make arrests.\u201d<\/p>\n Emphasized Chambers,\u00a0 \u201cThere is no doubt that a cockfight was in progress on March 15, \u00a02025,\u00a0 and it is a dereliction of duty for law enforcement not to raid such an enterprise.\u00a0 Law enforcement had everything set up for them to conduct one of the biggest cockfighting arrest actions in decades. \u00a0That effort was squandered by a road-blocking action by a senior law enforcement officer.\u201d<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Resumed Pacelle,\u00a0 \u201cCockfighting is barbaric, \u00a0and it is always bound up with other crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n Even as Pacelle spoke,\u00a0 Agence France Presse reported from Indonesia that two soldiers were arrested on March 18,\u00a0 2024,\u00a0 for allegedly shooting three police officers dead when the officers,\u00a0 with 14 others,\u00a0 raided an illegal cockfight at Karang Manik,\u00a0 Negara Batin district,\u00a0 Lampung province.<\/p>\n \u201cLetting the cockfighters jump in their vehicles and take off,\u201d\u00a0 Pacelle said,\u00a0 \u201cwas an incredible lost opportunity to nab more than 200 people who had assembled for a singular criminal purpose: to participate in a massive animal fighting derby, \u00a0forbidden under both Texas and United States law.<\/p>\n \u201cWe hope that the Texas Department of Public Safety opens an investigation and that they charge the property owner. \u00a0While they are at it,\u201d\u00a0 Pacelle said,\u00a0 \u201cthey should investigate any links between the senior law enforcement official who declined to seek a warrant and the owner of the property where the fight was conducted.\u201d<\/p>\n And,\u00a0 while at it,\u00a0 the Texas Department of Public Safety might also investigate that senior law enforcement official\u2019s boss,\u00a0 Sheriff Chris Bratt.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Even before the alleged cockfight started,\u00a0 Pacelle said,\u00a0 \u201cAnimal Wellness Action and SHARK provided law enforcement with the fight schedule, \u00a0still pictures and video of the gamecock farms with hundreds of tethered birds, \u00a0cock houses full of birds delivered for the Saturday morning fights, \u00a0and the structure at the center of it all that was the cockfighting pit.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce law enforcement showed up, \u00a0cockfighters scattered \u2014 also a tell-tale sign of their illegal conduct,\u201d\u00a0 Pacelle mentioned.<\/p>\n Fumed Hindi,\u00a0 \u201cAny first-year cop, \u00a0presented with the evidence we had, \u00a0would know in a split second that there was a cockfight in progress.\u00a0 We couldn\u2019t have done more to set up a law enforcement action.\u201d<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Elsewhere,\u00a0 Pacelle noted,\u00a0 \u201cTexas law enforcement have stepped up their game in addressing illegal fights.\u201d<\/p>\n Pacelle mentioned busts \u201cin Galveston, \u00a0where nearly 100 birds were seized; \u00a0in Potter County, \u00a0where more than 160 roosters were seized and, \u00a0according to the sheriff, \u00a0\u2018many\u2019 participants were \u2018unlawfully in the United States\u2019; \u00a0in San Jacinto, \u00a0where suspects were \u2018expected to face multiple felony charges, including animal cruelty, \u00a0cockfighting, \u00a0illegal gambling, \u00a0unlawful weapon possession, \u00a0organized crime, \u00a0and firearm possession by illegal immigrants\u2019; \u00a0in Cherokee, \u00a0where two dozen suspects were arrested on similar charges, \u00a0and in Lynn County, \u00a0where the sheriff brought felony charges \u2018because of organized criminal activity.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cEarlier this month\u201d\u00a0 Pacelle said, \u00a0\u201cthe El Paso County Sheriffs\u2019 Office obtained a warrant and arrested a man for having a collection of cockfighting paraphernalia, \u00a0along with 16 roosters trained to fight.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThere have been a series of interdictions at the Texas\/Mexico border,\u201d\u00a0 Pacelle continued,\u00a0 noting that,\u00a0 \u201cOn February 17, \u00a0U.S. Customs & Border Patrol officers working at the Paso Del Norte international crossing seized 180 rooster gaffs and 7,500 animal steroid tablets from a traveler arriving from Mexico,\u201d\u00a0 who forfeited the paraphernalia and was fined $2,000.<\/p>\n \u201cOur team knows exactly what a fighting setup looks like. \u00a0And this was one on steroids,\u201d Pacelle charged.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are publicly calling out this criminal operation and broadly alerting law enforcement everywhere about the markers and features of animal fights, \u00a0so they don\u2019t miss opportunities to apprehend those involved in this kind of lawlessness.<\/p>\n \u201cTexas is an especially important state in our fight to eradicate animal fighting,\u201d\u00a0 Pacelle emphasized.\u00a0 \u201cIt is the largest border state with Mexico, \u00a0\u00a0with cross-border trafficking of fighting birds to and from Mexico numbering in the hundreds of thousands or even millions every year.\u201d<\/p>\nAlleged cockfight host has gamecock as his profile picture<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nTim Thompson<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
Right: Sheriff Chris Bragg.<\/strong><\/em>
(Facebook photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\nTim Thompson,\u00a0 Sheriff Chris Bragg,\u00a0 & Lieutenant Craig Brown<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nPraises involvement of juvenile in raising gamefowl<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nCampaigned for former sheriff<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cSomething smells rotten\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nBucks deluxe left unseized<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cPut the community at risk\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nTexas Department of Public Safety<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cCockfighters scattered\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nElsewhere,\u00a0 \u201cTexas law enforcement have stepped up\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cThis was a cockfight on steroids\u201d<\/h2>\n