Owner denies knowing about cockfights on Las Vegas property
A man arrested after a northeast Las Vegas Valley cockfighting bust told police he had no idea why large groups of people frequently gathered at his property.
On Jan. 28, the Metropolitan Police Department received an anonymous tip that cockfights were being held at a home near Carey Avenue and Nellis Boulevard, police said. About 40 people scrambled out of the home as police arrived, and four men were arrested.
Pablo Castellanos, 48, was identified as the owner of the property, according to his arrest report. An animal control officer walked the property with Castellanos and requested a search warrant after noticing evidence of cockfighting.
Police found roosters that had their wattles and combs removed — a common practice in cockfighting — sharp metal spurs, training equipment and a dead rooster lying in a blood-spattered patch of dirt, according to the report.
“He claimed not to know exactly what was going on at his property,” the report states. “He knew that large groups of people showed up regularly to his property but he did not know why.”
A total of 440 roosters were removed from the home, police said, and 19 more were found dead and stuffed into plastic bags.
Castellanos told police he had lived in the home for about four years and owned 90 roosters, which he bred himself. He said the roosters were “kind and not fighting roosters,” the report states.
One of the other three men who were arrested admitted that they went to the property to watch cockfights. The other two told police that they went to the house to buy tacos, and were unaware cockfights were being held until they got there. One man said Castellanos acted as a referee in at least three fights that morning.
Castellanos was booked into the Clark County Detention Center, where he remains in custody without bail. He faces 40 charges total, including 19 counts of willfully or maliciously torturing, maiming or killing an animal.
Contact Max Michor at 702-383-0336 or mmichor@reviewjournal.com. Follow @MaxMichor on Twitter.
