WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Three dozen people charged with cockfighting

Three dozen people charged with cockfighting

By Taylor Kearns - bio | email

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - Three dozen people have been arrested and accused of participating in cockfighting operations in two South Carolina counties.

The Department of Natural Resources says what started as an investigation into illegal wildlife trafficking ended in one of the largest cockfighting busts in years.

"As happens in a lot of ongoing investigations, one thing can lead to another," said DNR spokesperson Lt. Robert McCullough.

Attorney General Henry McMaster said Friday the cockfighting operations were being run in Lexington and Williamsburg counties.

"Officers were present on more than one occasion and were able to witness these events going on," said McCullough.

The arrest warrants come two weeks after federal authorities charged 21 people in connection with the same 13-month investigation.

McCullough calls it the largest bust since 2004, when then-Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Sharpe was found guilty of extortion and lying to authorities in an effort to protect a cockfighting ring.

McMaster hopes the warrants will send a message that one of the state's oldest and most brutal traditions must come to an end.

"Cockfighting is a crime that leaves an ugly scar on our community," McMaster said. "The criminal underworld surrounding it is a haven for drugs, violence, and gambling."

Those charged in Lexington County include:

• Jorge Rolando Veliz-Quintero, Fremont, NC
• Noe Veliz-Quintero, Fremont, NC
• Gerald Allen Smith, Eutawville, SC
• Harold Dean Johnson, Martin, SC
• David Lee Dyal, North, SC
• Bobby Joe Green, Chester, SC
• Wilborn A. Timms Jr., Abbeville, SC
• Earl Gray Martin, Gaffney, SC
• Johnny Hampton Way, Cordova, SC
• Roosevelt Curry, North Augusta, SC
• William J. Manley, Gray Court, SC
• Will Dee Lambert, Georgetown, SC
• Wyman Raye Murphy Jr., Cope, SC
• Kevin Dwayne Grice, Iva, SC
• Larry Wayne Ashley, Honea Path, SC
• Eddie Randal Morgan, Edgemoor, SC
• Gary Martin Gregory, Gilbert, SC
• Charles David Cobb, Waterloo, SC
• Billy Pierce Plummer, Hartsville, SC
• James Frank Howard, Georgetown, SC
• James D. Tate, Inman, SC
• Johnny Joseph Harrison, North Augusta, SC
• George Doyle O'Bryant, Spartanburg, SC
• Charles L. Peeler, Gaffney, SC
• James Bryant Rayfield, Clover, SC
• Chad Cable, Neeses, SC
• Howard Daniel Barton, Warrenville, SC
• James Edward Haskins, Blackville, SC

Those charged in Williamsburg County include:

• Noe Veliz-Quintero, Freemont, NC
• Jorge Rolando Veliz-Quintar, Freemont, NC
• Jerome David Benenhaley II, Pinewood, SC
• Barry Walter M. Limehouse, St. George, SC
• Oscar Chappell Lemmon III, Ladson, SC
• Laurie G. Johnson, Salters, SC
• Robert Wesley Wilson, Andrews, SC
• Rocky Edwin Booth, McColl, SC
• Cody James Davis, Andrews, SC
• Elbert Eugene Milligan, McColl, SC

In 2005, McMaster led an effort to increase the state's maximum penalty for cockfighting from 30 days to one year imprisonment for a first offense. A second or subsequent offense now carries a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment.

All offenses will be prosecuted by the Attorney General's Office.

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