Sex trafficking & cockfighting suspect Derek F. Thibodeaux, Jr. also charged with severe neglect of a dog

LAKE CHARLES,  Louisiana––Charges of trafficking of children for sexual purposes, aggravated cruelty to animals,  and cockfighting are pending against Derek F. Thibodeaux, Jr.,  55,  of Sulphur,  Louisiana.

The Thibodeaux case,  though making local headlines,  does not appear to have particularly shocked the community.

Louisiana bayou waterfronts were notorious for cockfighting,  dogfighting,  pimping,  and slave trading even before the pirate Jean Lafitte in 1805 set up a business in New Orleans that openly trafficked in stolen goods.

But attitudes toward crime,  cruelty,  and exploitation have evolved since then.

Derek F. Thibodeaux Jr.
(Beth Clifton collage)

“Report in reference to a rape”

“On April 8,  2024,  Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives received a report in reference to a rape,”  a departmental media release said.

“During the investigation the victim,  who is under the age of 16,  disclosed that Derek F. Thibodeaux,  Jr.,  55,  of Sulphur,  was sexually abusing her.

“During the investigation the victim was able to provide detectives with details of the abuse that were corroborated during the execution of a search warrant,”  the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office said.

“Further investigation revealed Thibodeaux was in possession of a large number of roosters tethered to individual shelters as well as cockfighting paraphernalia.  A dog was also located at his residence,  suffering from injuries to its neck,  likely from being tethered for a long period of time.

(Beth Clifton collage)

“The dog received veterinary care”

“On April 24,  2024,”  the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office media release continued,  “Thibodeaux was arrested and booked into the Calcasieu Correctional Center.

“Judge Clayton Davis set his bond at $1,215,000.

“The dog was seized by Calcasieu Parish Animal Services and received veterinary care.”

Observed KPLC reporter Morgan Babineaux,  “Although cockfighting has been banned in Louisiana for 16 years,”  Louisiana having in 2008 become the last state to make cockfighting illegal,  “animal advocates say the remnants of the practice are still common in the state – but arrests are few.”

Affirmed Humane Society of Louisiana founder Jeff Dorson,  “We’re way behind the nation on animal fighting investigations.

“Cockfighting has been a part of our culture in Louisiana,  especially the Cajun areas,  for a long,  long time,”  Dorson told Babineaux,  herself a Cajun.

“In law enforcement in Louisiana,  we find,  although we are supportive of them,  and don’t mean to be extra critical,”  Dorson continued,  “they really don’t assign this duty to any specific detective or a task force.  There is no correlation or cooperation with the humane society.”

(Beth Clifton collage)

“Cockfighting charges are rarely filed alone”

Noted Babineaux,  “Cockfighting charges are rarely filed alone.”

Babineaux cited the Derek Thibodeaux case.

“It wasn’t until officials executed a search warrant that they discovered the roosters and fighting paraphernalia,”  Babineaux said.

Pledged Dorson,  “We’re going to contact the sheriffs,  all 64 of them [in Louisiana],  very soon about animal fighting enterprises,  so that they are ready,  so they have networking capability and partners in place for both roosters and fighting dogs.

“Let’s say they make an arrest on roosters or dogfighters,  and you have 50 dogs or chickens. There’s no place to house them,”  Dorson explained.

Dorson has considerable experience dealing with both cockfighting and dogfighting.

(See Crusader Against Cruelty.)

Judge Kristian Earles let Floyd & Guy Boudreaux walk.

Judge threw out the charges

Dogfighting was outlawed in Louisiana in 1982,  but the law went largely unenforced until Dorson,  posing as a dogfood salesman,  documented the extent of it in a multi-year undercover investigation culminating in a March 2005 raid on Floyd Boudreaux of Lafayette,  Louisiana.

Louisiana state police seized 56 pit bulls from the Boudreaux premises,   along with alleged dogfighting videos and paraphernalia,  a sawed-off shotgun,  and 40 gamecocks.

But district judge Kristian Earles,  of Crowley,  Acadia Parish,  Louisiana,  still in office,  on October 16,  2008 did not even wait to hear the defense side of the case before acquitting both Floyd Boudreaux,  then 74,   and his son Guy Boudreaux,  then 44,  of all 48 counts of alleged dogfighting brought against them.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Tossed 95 exhibits & excluded expert testimony

South Texas College of Law professor Francesca Ortiz extensively reviewed the acquittal in a 2010 Stanford Journal of Animal Law & Policy article entitled Making the Dogman Heel: Recommendations for Improving the Effectiveness of Dogfighting Laws.

“A known dogfighter when dogfighting was legal,”  wrote Ortiz,   “Boudreaux is considered ‘royalty’ in dogfighting circles and has been given such monikers as the ‘Don of Dogfighting’ and the “Godfather,’”  but Earles disregarded 95 evidentiary exhibits and excluded testimony from a variety of expert witnesses,  because none of the witnesses had personally seen either Floyd or Guy Boudreaux in the act of fighting dogs.

(Beth Clifton collage)

FIGHT Act still pending in Congress

Recalled Babineaux,  “In 2023,  U.S. Senator John Kennedy,”  a Republican from Louisiana,  in office since 2017,  “introduced a bill that would expand protections [against animal fighting] by banning broadcasting and gambling on animal fights and stopping the transport of certain roosters [gamecocks] through the mail.  The FIGHT Act,”  short for ‘Fighting Inhumane Gambling & High-Risk Animal Trafficking Act,’  was read and referred to the committee in May of 2023 but hasn’t recorded any action since.”

“We are working to attach it to the Farm Bill,  if and when it moves,”  Animal Wellness Action president Wayne Pacelle told ANIMALS 24-7 earlier in April 2024. 

            “If the Farm Bill does not move,”  Pacelle said,  “we’ll work to move the FIGHT Act as a free-standing bill.  It has more than 520 endorsing organizations and agencies,”  Pacelle mentioned on April 28,  2023,  “including the National District Attorneys’ Association and state sheriff’s associations from Indiana and Ohio to Kansas and Florida.”

(Beth Clifton collage)

Stalled in Tennessee

Stronger anti-cockfighting legislation is also stalled,  for the moment,  anyhow,  in Tennessee.  The Tennessee state senate has twice passed SB1782,  to increase the penalty for participating in cockfighting from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class E felony,  and to increase the fines for spectating at a cockfight,  but the state house of representatives companion bill,  HB 2068,  has not advanced.

Cockfighting is already a felony in 42 of the other 50 U.S. states,  as well as at the federal level,  including in all U.S. territories,  such as Guam and Puerto Rico.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Rural sheriffs

Obtaining felony penalties for cockfighting convictions is only half the battle in obtaining effective law enforcement against cockfighters.

The other half is persuading rural sheriffs to do anything against cockfighters at all.

In Alabama,  for instance,  cockfighting is only a misdemeanor,  with a conviction carrying a fine of only $50,  the lightest penalty of any state.

The Illinois-based animal advocacy organization Showing Animals Respect & Kindness,  noted for use of drones and hidden cameras to document illegal cockfights throughout the U.S.,  on April 26,  2024 tipped off the sheriff’s department in Colbert County,  Alabama to a cockfight allegedly underway at 899 Jones Road in Russellville,  Alabama.

899 Jones Cemetery Road, Russellville, Alabama.

Roosters staked out in a field

Google Earth images show more than 70 roosters staked out in a field at that address.

“I won’t be too surprised if the cops do nothing,”  Showing Animals Respect & Kindness founder Steve Hindi said.

Thirty-one suspects,  including five from Russellville,  were arrested at an August 2011 cockfight in adjacent Lawrence County.

Cullman County,  the next county to the east,  is also a longtime cockfighting hub.

Colbert,  Lawrence,  and Cullman counties all have considerable histories of Ku Klux Klan activity,  lynchings,  and law enforcement cooperation with both.

(See Cullman County,  Alabama:  combatting cockfighting in a KKK stronghold.)

(Beth Clifton collage)

Oklahoma

Hindi is comparably frustrated with the outcome of an April 20,  2024 cockfighting bust in Carter County,  Oklahoma.

“A tip from animal protection group Showing Animals Respect and Kindness and Animal Wellness Action [SHARK] led Carter County deputies to the scene of an alleged illegal cockfighting event outside Wilson,”  reported Drury Vaughan for KXII television in Ardmore.

“Animal Wellness Action sent their state director to meet with one of the investigators from SHARK,  documented that a fight was about to start,  contacted the sheriff’s office,  and the sheriff’s office responded,” Animal Wellness Action president Wayne Pacelle told Vaughan.

(Beth Clifton collage)

“Trying to deconstruct a barbed wire fence”

“Upon arriving at the property,”  the Daily Ardmorite newspaper detailed,  “deputy Richard Reeder observed five vehicles and numerous fighting roosters.  He was informed by dispatch that fighting was taking place at the back of the property.  Another deputy arrived on scene and several vehicles were observed coming out of the woods and heading west.

“Reeder reported after driving north on Santa Fe Road that several vehicles were encountered,  with individuals trying to deconstruct a barbed wire fence.  Three men got back into their vehicles and drove back into the wooded area.

“Several vehicles were witnessed driving through a pasture onto a lease road further north and an attempt was made to stop the vehicles.  One vehicle, a white pickup truck with Texas plates took off west at a high rate of speed.

Gustavo Barcenas Jr.
(Beth Clifton collage)

Busted with $6,578 in cash

“A pursuit took place.  A felony stop was conducted after the vehicle came to a stop with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol arriving on scene as backup.  All occupants were detained and four boxes with fighting roosters were discovered in the back seat.

“A total of $6,578 was collected and all four men in the vehicle claimed they were only at the site to watch the fights after being read their Miranda Rights.”

Gustavo Barcenas Jr., 19,  of Gainesville, Texas,  “was taken into custody and the vehicle was impounded.  The other three men were released with citations at the scene and allowed to keep the roosters,”  the Daily Ardmorite said.

“One arrest was made,”  picked up Terré Gables for KFOR television in Oklahoma City,  but “SHARK and Animal Wellness Action believe the whole cast of characters must be apprehended to deter rampant cockfighting in the Sooner State.

(Beth Clifton collage)

At least 100 gamecocks left at site

“At least 100 fighting birds were reported at the fighting venue and remain on site,”  Gables continued.

“SHARK and Animal Wellness Action believe the birds should be seized,  given that it is a felony to possess animals for fighting under Oklahoma law.

The Carter County District Attorney’s Office later released Barcenas on $1,000 bond,  and according to Gables, reduced his initial felony charging of eluding an officer to a misdemeanor.

“We’re glad to see that Carter County Sheriff’s Office deputies are doing an excellent job busting criminal cockfighting,”  Animal Wellness Action state director Kevin Chambers told Gables.

Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt consorts with the Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission.  (Beth Clifton collage)

“Disappointing to see felony charges summarily lowered”

“But it’s disappointing to see felony charges being summarily lowered to modest fines.  That kind of downgrading of penalties only emboldens cockfighters to keep flouting the rule of law.  It’s just a cost of doing business for them,  just like meager penalties are no deterrent to narcotics traffickers who make big money breaking the law.”

Pacelle recalled that Carter County sheriff’s deputies arrested seven people at a June 2023 cockfight.  Among those arrested was Chance Campos of Lone Grove,  Oklahoma,  then a director of the Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission,  a pro-cockfighting advocacy group.

Beth & Merritt Clifton

But Campos “was not charged with a felony.  He was let off with a $750 fine,”  Pacelle said.

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