Troopers say cockfighting complex had bleachers, gift shop

Four Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers talked about the June raid that netted 143 citations during a hearing in Cocke County General Sessions Court for some of the people charged with being spectators at a cockfight.

Heavily armed agents, snipers and helicopters were involved in the raid that was part of the FBI’s four-year investigation into organized crime and corruption in the county.

“I’d never seen anything like that before in my life,” Trooper Timothy Wolfenbarger said last week. “It (the main building) was like a gymnasium. There were people sitting up in the arena area.”

Some people criticized the show of force in the raid, but Wolfenbarger said it was needed because authorities didn’t know what they would find.

“Our job is dangerous enough, but anytime you go into the unknown you don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said.

The troopers said they found dead roosters, blood and feathers at the pit but did not actually see any of the defendants be involved or watch a cockfight.

Judge John Bell bound the cases over to the grand jury but said he didn’t think the evidence presented at the hearing was enough to convict them.

Bell did not agree with defense attorney Joe Baker’s argument that the state’s cockfighting laws for alleged spectators were vague.

“If this is the best the state and federal governments can do then I feel like (my clients’) rights aren’t protected,” Baker said.