Source: US FBI
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – A federal grand jury charged multiple defendants for conspiring to violate the Animal Welfare Act and operate an illegal gambling business, announced U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona.
A two-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges James Shawn Murphree, 48, of Blountsville, Alabama, Denny Gonzalez-Guzman, 30, of Albertville, Alabama, Kasten Finis Murphree, 22, of Blountsville, Alabama, Kelby Shawn Murphree, 27, of Blountsville, Alabama, and Kimberly Ann Evans, 48, of Hayden, Alabama, with conspiracy to violate the Animal Welfare Act and the Prohibition on Illegal Gambling Businesses.
According to the indictment, a cockfight is a contest where roosters fight each other. The fights are supervised by a referee, and the fight ends when one rooster is dead or refuses to continue fighting. Typical cockfights employ weapons that are attached to the backs of the roosters’ legs. Owners and operators of cockfighting arenas, called “pits,” hold organized fights where people can fight their trained roosters against other roosters in cockfighting tournaments called “derbies.” In a derby, large numbers of cockfighters pit their roosters against one another for entertainment. Spectators gamble on the outcomes of the cockfights, and the owners of the roosters stand to gain financially through their own wager, an arrangement where the derby winners receive a pre-determined portion of the derby entry fees, or through the enhanced value of their winning roosters.
The indictment alleges that between March 2025 and June 2025, Kimberly Evans, James Murphree, Kasten Murphree, and Kelby Murphree conspired to organize multiple cockfighting derbies in Blountsville, Alabama. Attendees paid $40 to watch the fight. Competitors who entered roosters in the derbies paid an entry fee between $700 and $1,000. The winner of the derby would receive a share of the prize pool money.
The Gulf of America (“GoA”) Homeland Security Task Force, in partnership with United States Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, conducted this long-term investigation. The GoA Homeland Security Task Force is comprised of authorities from Homeland Security Investigations, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. This investigation and operation received significant support from the United States Marshals Service, Customs and Border Protection, and ICE-Enforcement and Removal Operations. Assistant U.S. Attorneys John M. Hundscheid and Jonathan S. Cross are prosecuting the case.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
An indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.