‘Especially cruel activity.’ First man sentenced in Kentucky cockfighting prosecution

A man involved in cockfighting in Kentucky for decades has been sentenced to two months in jail.

Rickie D. Johnson, of Laurel County, will also be on home incarceration for eight months after his jail sentence.

U.S. District Judge Claria Horn Boom sentenced Johnson Tuesday in federal court in London.

Johnson was charged in a larger federal prosecution of cockfighting. A total of 19 people were charged in four separate federal indictments alleging they were involved with cockfighting pits in Clay, Laurel and Pike counties and another on the border of Nicholas and Fleming counties.

More than a dozen defendants have pleaded guilty in the four cases, but Johnson was the first to be sentenced.

Johnson, 55, helped operate a venue called the Bald Rock Chicken Pit in rural Laurel County.

The arena had stadium-style seating, a central fighting pit and other side pits, a concession area and a station for sharpening the metal gaffs attached to roosters’ legs during fights, according to the court record.

Roosters often die as a result of injuries, and cockfighting can be accompanied by other crimes including gambling and drug trafficking.

Johnson rented the facility from another man, Harold “Fuzzy” Hale, who had built it, and they split the entrance fees, according to court records and testimony.

The fight could generate a good bit of interest and money. On July 10, 2021, for instance, there were at least 80 people there for a cockfight with at least 47 birds entered and a purse of $7,000, according to the court record.

Kentucky State Police raided the cockfight that night after receiving a complaint about it from an organization called Showing Animals Respect and Kindness, or SHARK, which has worked to document cockfighting in Kentucky and pushed authorities to crack down.

In one case in 2020, the organization said it videotaped Clay County sheriff’s deputies at a cockfight but not arresting anyone.

Johnson pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to operate the Bald Rock pit, a crime punishable by up to five years in prison.

However, the sentencing range for Johnson under advisory federal guidelines was 21 months to 27 months.

Johnson’s attorney, Kelly Kirby Ridings, sought a sentence of probation for him, arguing that he had no criminal history, was not likely to commit another crime, has serious health problems and that the felony conviction was significant punishment.

Ridings said Johnson’s parents had operated cockfights and he had been around cockfighting all his life.

“Unfortunately he did as they taught him,” Ridings said.

She also said that cockfighting has been part of the culture of Eastern Kentucky, but hopes the charges against Johnson and others will help change that.

Animal welfare groups have documented that Kentucky is a “breeding ground” for cockfighting.

The prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kate K. Smith, said the same in a sentencing memo — that Kentucky has become a destination cockfighting, “with pits operating throughout the state, in flagrant disregard to the fact that it is a violation of state and federal law.”

Smith said federal and state authorities pursued cockfighting cases out of a responsibility to enforce the law.

“It’s our obligation to address a widespread flouting of the rule of law,” she said.

Smith urged Boom to impose a longer sentence on Johnson in order to deter others.

Boom said she agreed that the culture of cockfighting in Kentucky needs to change.

“It’s an especially cruel activity,” the judge told Johnson, who apologized in court.

But Boom granted a variance below the sentencing range, citing factors that included Johnson’s age and health problems, his lack of criminal history and testimonials from friends and family who described Johnson as a loving father and generous neighbor.

One of the others charged with Johnson was his daughter, Jacklyn R. Johnson, who had worked as a bailiff for the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office before the indictment.

She left the office before the federal indictment and has not yet been tried.

In another case in the crackdown, Cruz Alejandro Mercado-Vazquez, of Mason County, pleaded guilty to attempting to bribe Mason County Sheriff Patrick Boggs for protection for a cockfighting operation.

He has not been sentenced.

Federal law also bars anyone from possessing, training, selling, buying, transporting, delivering or receiving an animal for purposes of having it take part in a fighting operation; from using the U.S. Mail or any instrument of interstate commerce — such as Facebook — to promote an animal fighting venture; and to attend an animal fight.