Federal authorities said earlier in March that more than a dozen Kentucky residents were indicted for animal fighting charges.
"We are committed to enforcing federal animal cruelty laws," Carlton Shier, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, said in a release, "and I want to commend the efforts of our law enforcement partners, whose dedication and effort led to these indictments for the Eastern District of Kentucky."
Federal authorities said that 17 Kentuckians were indicted with various animal fighting and cruelty offenses in four separate indictments issued in London.
Federal authorities said that a 43-year-old resident, Cruz Alejandro Mercado-Vazquez was one of the first indicted, facing two counts of attempted bribery and one count for possessing animals to have animal fights.
Also indicted were Rickie Dale Johnson, 55, Jacklyn Rachelle Johnson, 31, Harold "Fuzzy" Hale, 72, for conspiracy for sponsoring and exhibiting animals in an animal fighting venture connected with the Bald Rock chicken pit in Laurel County.
In another group indictment, a grand jury believed there was enough to charge Millard Oscar Hubbard, 72, of Manchester; Timothy Sizemore, 42, of Manchester; Beachel Collett, 28, of Oneida; Lester Collett, 25, of Manchester and Justin Smith, 33, of Manchester, for conspiracy to sponsoring and exhibiting animal fighting ventures.
In a final set of indictments, Walter H. Mitchell, 55, of Ewing; Jerrard McVey, 47, and Linda McVey, 42, of Carlisle were charged with conspiracy related to the animal fighting venture.
"The gruesome ritual of animal fighting simply has no place in a civilized society," Special Agent in Charge Jodi Cohen, FBI Louisville Office, said in the release. "Animal cruelty, however, is just one criminal aspect surrounding this barbaric activity."
