Florida

Body Cam Footage Shows Moment Florida Deputies Busted Cockfighting Ring

About 60 roosters were found when deputies busted the operation at a farm in Summerfield

Dramatic body camera footage shows the moment Florida deputies busted a large cockfighting ring that led to five arrests.

About 60 roosters were found when deputies busted the operation at a farm in Summerfield Sunday, Marion County Sheriff's Office officials said.

Body camera footage shows deputies entering a barn as loud music is playing. Inside, they found an active cockfighting ring and roosters, some of which showed injuries from having been used for fighting, officials said.

Five suspects were captured while trying to flee the area. Footage showed one deputy confronting a suspect who was trying to leave in a vehicle.

"They're running out the back," one deputy tells another in the video.

"Don't even try to run buddy, we got a K-9 out here," a deputy tells one of the suspects at another point in the video.

Animal control took possession of the roosters, some of which are seen in the video sitting in cages along a wall of the barn.

At one point in the video, deputies are speaking with a man who had one of the roosters.

"You can set that chicken down man," one of the deputies tells the man.

Deputies also found more than 450 grams of marijuana, four grams of cocaine, more than $5,800 in cash, and a firearm with high-capacity clips containing live ammunition.

The suspects are charged with fighting or baiting animals, a third-degree felony.

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