A second man has been arrested in connection with a Miami-Dade cockfighting investigation that began with a weekend FBI raid at a 10-acre property in the Horse Country area, the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.
Sergio Ruiz-Osorio, 54, of Lehigh Acres, is charged with one count each of animal cruelty and animal fighting, baiting or breeding, according to jail records. Detectives returned to the property at 12300 SW 51st St. on Wednesday and found a sign reading “Los Laureles, Venta de Animals,” an arrest report said. Ruiz-Osorio answered when detectives called the phone number on the sign and told them he owned the animals. He had said he was in Naples, but he later returned to the property and was taken into custody without incident.
Investigators reported about 125 game fowl roosters, an enclosed cockfighting training ring and rooster supplies, including vitamins, syringes, medication and a rooster agitator. They also found 16 dogs, three cats, numerous goats, turtles and birds in what the report described as a dire state of neglect, with little or no food or water. Miami-Dade Animal Services removed all of the animals.
The case began Saturday, when FBI agents executing a search warrant notified the sheriff’s office of a possible cockfighting operation. A detective who walked the site described seeing several thousand game fowl roosters. On Sunday, deputies said two men breached a secured perimeter and ran. Deputies caught one of them, Carlos Rafael Lezcano, 52, at a nearby nursery. He was arrested on charges including animal cruelty, evidence tampering, animal fighting and resisting without violence, but jail records show he has since posted bond.
As of Thursday morning, Ruiz-Osorio was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $7,500 bond.
