HILO, Hawai‘i — Police said Tuesday officers, who raided a cockfight May 18 in Hawaiian Paradise Park, recovered 25 dead roosters, four injured birds and about $20,000 in cash.
A Hawai‘i Police Department statement also said Homeland Security Task Force officers were involved in serving the search warrant on a residence on 18th Avenue near Kaloli Drive. In addition to the chickens and cash, authorities allegedly confiscated gambling records, cockfighting paraphernalia and a small amount of marijuana.
According to the statement, it was estimated that more than 100 people attended the cockfight.
Lehualani K. Kaleiwahea, 49, of Hilo, and her son, Isaac Dylan H. Ragasa-Kaleiwahea, 28, of Kea‘au, were arrested and booked on suspicion of 29 counts of cruelty to animals, plus single counts of first- and second-degree promotion of gambling and first-degree possession of gambling records.
Domonick Uchima, 37, of Kurtistown, was arrested and booked on suspicion of second-degree promotion of gambling.
All three were released pending further investigation without charges being filed.
Following the cockfighting arrests, Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and Center for a Humane Society, decried the defeat in this year’s legislative session of House Bill 1980, introduced by Rep, David Tarnas, a Waimea Democrat. The measure would’ve elevated cockfighting from a misdemeanor offense to a Class C felony carrying a potential five-year prison term upon conviction. The legislation died in the Senate’s third reading.
“The state Legislature took a pass again this year on strengthening the law. How disappointing it must be for those cops to have their collars let out of custody without charges being filed,” Pacelle said. “At least this cockfight didn’t end in murder, as we’ve seen before, but it is absolutely no surprise that staged animal fights continue without abatement in Hawai‘i.”
Pacelle was referring to shooting at a cockfight April 15, 2023, in Maili, O‘ahu, that killed a man and a woman and injured three men.
Jacob Borge, 24, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder, plus numerous firearms offenses for the shooting. Also charged is 17-year-old Shae’Dan-Styles McEnroe-Keaulii. Both are from Waianae, O‘ahu.
Prosecutors are attempting to consolidate their trials.
The homicide victims were identified as 34-year-old Gary Rabellizsa Jr. and 59-year-old Cathy Rabellizsa-Manner.
Submitting written testimony in favor of Tarnas’ bill were: Hawai‘i High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, state Department of Law Enforcement, Hawaiian Humane Society, Honolulu Police Department, Honolulu prosecuting attorney, Maui prosecuting attorney, Kauai prosecuting attorney, Animal Welfare Institute, Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, National Sheriffs’ Association, Humane Society of the United States, and American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
The vast majority of written testimony opposed to the bill came in the form of individual testimony and two petitions with numerous signatures, as well as the Office of the Public Defender and the Hawai‘i Game Breeders Association.
Far more individual testimony was submitted in opposition to the bill than in favor, citing the cultural significance of raising gamefowl in Hawai‘i.
Farmers who raise poultry as food also expressed concerns about the potential of the law to infringe upon their livelihoods.
“Politicians have been cowardly in not addressing a malicious form of animal cruelty invariably bound up with other forms of lawlessness,” Pacelle said. “In light of what happened in Maili, it is a dereliction of duty that lawmakers chose not to fortify the state’s anemic anti-cockfighting law in the wake of a mass shooting at a regular and known cockfighting venue.”
