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6 charged in Rhode Island cockfighting operation – UPI.com

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6 charged in Rhode Island cockfighting operation – UPI.com


Six men were charged Monday for their roles in a Rhode Island cockfighting operation with each facing up to five years in prison. File Photo by St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office/Wikimedia Commons

Sept. 17 (UPI) — Six men were arraigned and charged with violations of the Animal Welfare Act in the U.S. District of Rhode Island Monday in Providence.

The six defendants are charged with up to five counts each for their roles in a March 5, 2022, cockfight allegedly held at the Providence home of defendant Miguel Delgado, 73, and at other times, the Dept. of Justice announced Tuesday.

The DOJ defines cockfighting a “contest in which a person attached a knife, gaff or other sharp instrument to the leg of a ‘gamecock’ or rooster and then places the bird a few inches away from a similarly armed rooster.”

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The roosters fight by flapping their wings and jumping while stabbing and cutting each other with the weapons affixed to their legs until one dies or otherwise quits the fight. Both birds often die from their injuries.

The DOJ says Delgado hosted a series of cockfights called “derbies” at his home and is charged with sponsoring and exhibiting roosters in an animal fighting venture on several dates, buying and transporting sharp instruments called “gaffs” used in cockfights and illegally possessing roosters for use in an animal-fighting venture.

Rhode Island residents Onill Vasquez Lozada, 39, and Antonio Ledee Rivera are charged with unlawfully possessing roosters in April 2021 for use in an animal fighting venture and sponsoring and exhibiting roosters during the March 2022 derby at Delgado’s home.

Rivera also is charged with violations during an earlier cockfighting event at Delgado’s home.

Massachusetts resident Germidez Kingsley Jamie, 31; Jose Rivera, 67; and Luis Castillo, 35, are charged with sponsoring and exhibiting roosters at an animal fighting venture during the March 2022 derby.

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Jamie and Jose Rivera also are charged with one count each for allegedly buying and transporting gaffs for use in an animal fighting venture.

If convicted, each defendant faces up to five years in federal prison.

Several federal and state law enforcement agencies investigated the cases the respective defendants.

A federal grand jury indicted the six defendants last week.

Seven members of a family in Alabama were convicted of similar charges in 2022 for their roles in an Alabama cockfighting ring.

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Riverside County (Calif.) Sheriff’s deputies in August 2022 recovered 143 caged roosters that had to be euthanized after the deputies stopped a large cockfighting event in Jurupa Valley.

About 200 people attended the event, but most of them fled with the police arrived.



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Rhode Island

2 dead, 1 seriously hurt after crash on I-95 South in Warwick

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2 dead, 1 seriously hurt after crash on I-95 South in Warwick


WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) — Two people are dead and another person seriously hurt after a crash involving two vehicles on the highway in Warwick Saturday.

Rhode Island State Police said the crash happened around 1:34 p.m. on the ramp from Route 113 West to I-95 South.

According to police, a Hyundai SUV that was driving in the middle lane of the highway started to drift to the right, crossed the first lane, and then crossed onto the on-ramp lane. The car struck the guardrail twice before driving through the grass median.

The Hyundai then struck the driver’s side of a Mercedes SUV that was on the ramp, causing the Mercedes to roll over and come to a rest. The impact sent the Hyundai over the guardrail and down an embankment.

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The driver of the Hyundai, a 73-year-old man, and his passenger, a 69-year-old woman, were both pronounced dead at the hospital.

A woman who was in the Mercedes was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital in critical condition.

State police said all lanes of traffic were reopened by 4:30 p.m.

The investigation remains ongoing.

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Judge rejects DOJ push for Rhode Island voter information

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Judge rejects DOJ push for Rhode Island voter information


A federal judge on Friday tossed the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit aiming to force Rhode Island to hand over its voter information as part of the Trump administration’s push to acquire voter data from several states.

Rhode Island U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy wrote that federal law does not allow the DOJ “to conduct the kind of fishing expedition it seeks here,” siding with Rhode Island election officials. She added that the DOJ did not provide evidence to suggest that Rhode Island violated election law.

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McElroy, a Trump appointee, wrote that she sided with the similar decision in Oregon. That decision ruled that the DOJ was not entitled to unredacted voter registration lists.

“Absent from the demand are any factual allegations suggesting that Rhode Island may be violating the list maintenance requirements,” she said in her ruling.

Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore (D) praised McElroy’s decision. He said in a statement that the Trump administration “seems to have no problem taking actions that are clear Constitutional overreaches, regularly meddling in responsibilities that are the rights of the states.”

“Today’s decision affirms our position: the United States Department of Justice has no legal right to – or need for – the personally-identifiable information in our voter file,” he said. “Voter list maintenance is a responsibility entrusted to the states, and I remain confident in the steps we take here in Rhode Island to keep our list as accurate as possible.”

The Hill reached out to the DOJ for comment.

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The DOJ called for the voter lists as it investigated Rhode Island’s compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which allowed Americans to register to vote when they apply for a driver’s license.

The DOJ sued at least 30 states, as well as Washington, D.C., in December demanding their respective voter data. This data includes birth dates, names and partial Social Security numbers.

At least 12 states have given or said they will give the DOJ their voter registration lists, according to a tracker operated by the Brennan Center for Justice.

The department stated after it lost a similar suit against Massachusetts earlier this month that it had “sweeping powers” to access the voter data and that, if states fail to comply, courts have a “limited, albeit vital, role” in directing election officers on behalf of the administration to produce the records. The DOJ cited the Civil Rights Act as being intended to unearth alleged election law violations.

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Single Dad Says Grandparents’ Rights Trial Has Cost Him More Than $500K, but He'll Do ‘Whatever It Takes’ to Keep Daughter Safe

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Single Dad Says Grandparents’ Rights Trial Has Cost Him More Than 0K, but He'll Do ‘Whatever It Takes’ to Keep Daughter Safe


As the two-year anniversary of his wife’s death approaches, widowed single father Scott Naso is sounding an alarm to fellow parents across the country — and especially in Rhode Island, where he lives with his now 4-year-old daughter, Laila.



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