Ceres man nicknamed ‘Chicken Joe’ sentenced for running cockfighting enterprise
A Ceres man who went by the name “Chicken Joe” was sentenced Friday to 16 months in prison and fined $25,000 for conspiring to sell, buy, possess, train, transport, deliver and receive game fowl used in animal fighting ventures, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Joseph D. Sanford, 74, also known as “Chicken Joe,” owned and operated Joe Sanford Gamefarm in Ceres, where he bred and sold gamecocks for cockfighting, which is illegal under federal law, according to court documents.
He was indicted in December 2019 and pleaded guilty to the charges two years later.
Sanford also fought his own roosters. Following an undercover purchase of a trio of fighting game birds, federal agents searched Joe Sanford Gamefarm, a 10.25-acre property where Sanford also lived. They found a large cockfighting enterprise consisting of 2,956 game fowl.
Investigators learned that Sanford shipped game fowl for cockfighting within the United States and to Mexico, Peru and the Philippines, according to court documents.
As described in the indictment against Sanford, “cockfighting is a contest in which a knife, gaff or other sharp instrument is often attached to the legs of gamecocks or roosters for the purpose of fighting each other. ... The fight is ended when one rooster is dead or refuses to continue to fight. It is not uncommon for one or both roosters to die after a fight.”
This story was originally published April 29, 2022 at 1:26 PM.
