North Augusta Man Sentenced to 5 Years of Federal Probation for Cockfighting

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Roosevelt Curry, 69, of North Augusta, was sentenced to five years of federal probation after being convicted of a felony cockfighting violation.

Evidence presented to the court during trial showed that Curry and several others gathered at a home on Clayton Lane in Ridgeville, South Carolina on March 12, 2022, for a cockfighting tournament. Curry and others fought their chickens against one another and gambled on the outcomes of their birds fighting to death. Deputies received an anonymous tip about the gathering and when they arrived, they saw 30 individuals standing around a cockfighting pit, a blue barrel full of dead chickens with fighting wounds, and razor-sharp instruments that participants attach to the chickens’ legs to make them more lethal during the fights. Deputies searched the property and located Curry on scene along with his truck which contained cockfighting equipment and chickens, some of which sustained obvious wounds during fighting. Seven of the individuals on scene were indicted in federal court for their crucial role in organizing the fight or their longstanding history of participation in these illegal events. Six of those individuals pled guilty. Curry went to trial and was found guilty of felony sponsoring or exhibiting an animal in an animal fighting venture. Curry has a prior 2009 misdemeanor state cockfighting conviction on his record.

United States District Judge Bruce Hendricks sentenced Curry to five years of probation with 480 days of house arrest with an electronic monitor.

This case was investigated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Office of Inspector General, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), and the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO).  Assistant U.S. Attorney Nick Bianchi and Chris Lietzow prosecuted the case.

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