ALTON, La. - St. Tammany deputies made their first arrest this month under Louisiana's new cockfighting law.
46-year-old Milton Keys is charged with cockfighting and cruelty to animals. Investigators say Keys operated a cockfight at his home on N. 14th Street in the community of Alton near Pearl River. Keys is free on a $10,000 bond.
Cockfighting carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison and a $1,000 fine.
Investigators say, an anonymous tip on Sunday, March 7 led them Keys' home, where deputies pulled up on a live cockfight.
According to detectives, as the deputies arrived, the crowd scattered.
Deputies arrested three people at the scene, 25-year old Ahman Waterhouse of Deslonde Street in New Orleans, 45-year old-Michael Green of Chamberlain Drive in New Orleans, and 17-year old Amaani Smith of Louisa Street in New Orleans. All three are free on $5,000 bond.
Neighbors told Eyewitness News, fights happened on a semi-regular basis in Keys' backyard. "Yes, they did know it was going on," an unidentified neighbor said.
According to neighbors, Keys has been in the neighborhood for roughly a year.
A few chickens were caged in his backyard Friday. Back on March 7, animal control workers confiscated 44 chickens from his property. Those chickens are now being housed at the St. Tammany Animal Control Office, where the parish is waiting on a judicial ruling on what to do with them.
In the world of cockfighting, roosters fight, hens don't. Parish leaders told Eyewitness News, its possible the hens could be adopted out. The roosters, however, are all clearly bred and groomed to fight. "Its very disheartening," St. Tammany Spokesperson Suzanne Parsons-Stymiest told Eyewitness News Friday. "Its dishearting to the people who work here. Its disheartening to anyone who comes to visit or loves animals."
"We are glad that the chickens are gone," an unidentified neighbor said. "The chickens are gone and we want him (Keys) gone."
The Pearl River area has had a reputation for cockfighting for decades, but a spokesman for the Sheriff's Department told Eyewitness News, they don't believe that's the case anymore. "I don't necessarily think that there's a whole lot of it going on," Capt. George Bonnett said Friday. "In this case, a neighbor or somebody in the area noticed what was happening and called the Sheriff's Office and asked us to come out. I think that would be the case in a lot of places over here. I think we would get more calls if there was more of it going on."
