Jordan Wilcox
Assistant Publisher
On Tuesday, September 23rd, 37-year-old Edin Dilson Rodas of Hopkins Township was arraigned in the 57th District Court on five felony charges related to cockfighting. Rodas and his wife own property just south of Hopkins, at 2534 23rd Street, where on Saturday, July 26th, residents were startled by the sounds of injured roosters in distress. – Sounds that were later attributed to an ongoing illegal cockfighting ring.
Cockfighting is a blood sport where two gamecocks, or roosters, are forced to fight to the death for the entertainment and gambling of spectators. The birds are typically drugged for aggression, weighted, and outfitted with bladed weapons. It’s outlawed in all 50 states, but is still viewed by some groups as part of their cultural heritage and a deeply rooted tradition. In Michigan, it’s a felony that can carry up to four years in prison.
Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK) and Animal Wellness Action are two activist groups pushing for the end of cockfighting nationwide. According to Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action, both groups operate complex networks of informants who alert them of such events and employ undercover drone surveillance and online research of the illegal operations.
Steve Hindi, founder and president of SHARK, said that the Hopkins tip came through his group’s anonymous hotline.
After receiving the tip, SHARK quickly sent a drone up in the air, capturing footage that they released on their Facebook page. The video shows criminals bringing live birds in for the fight, then bringing the dead birds out, and numerous live birds being violently handled and thrown into a wheelbarrow with dying birds, while getting savagely attacked and mutilated with various instruments.
Both groups also contacted the Allegan County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) multiple times that day, but were told that “they didn’t have enough officers to respond,” and have known about the “illegal cockfighting pit for a couple weeks now.”
This response enraged Hindi and Pacelle. Hindi questioned why they hadn’t already raided the cockfight and said that “they should have brought officers in from other agencies if they needed extra manpower.”
When asked for comment by the Detroit Free Press, Undersheriff Michael Larson acknowledged that “the initial response was not what we had hoped for,” but that the police response was “ not malicious or intentionally negligent.”After the initial controversy, all three groups launched an extensive investigation to ”immediately investigate, identify, and charge anyone who participated in these crimes.”
The investigation led to Rodas, a native of San Carlos Sija, Guatemala, who later moved to Michigan and graduated from a local high school and Grand Valley State University. He and his wife bought the Hopkins Township property in 2021.
According to an ACSO press release, Rodas has been charged with three felony counts of fighting animals, one felony count of “animals fighting/equipment”, and one felony count of third-degree killing/torturing animals.
His bond was set at $5000 cash or surety, and the case remains under investigation as additional suspects are being identified.
In a previous interview with WWMT News Channel 3, Hindi stated that he personally hopes anyone involved with this is “imprisoned for a very long time because they are a cancer to any society that they’re part of. They need some serious, serious, long-term mental counseling.”
