- Irina Walker, 60, and her husband John Wesley Walker, 67, were charged
- Accused of hosting cockfighting derbies and illegal gambling at their ranch
A Romanian
princess and her husband, a former sheriff's deputy have reportedly been
arrested in connection with an alleged cockfighting ring.
Irina
Walker, 60, and her husband John Wesley Walker, 67, are charged with hosting
cockfighting derbies and illegal gambling at their ranch outside the small
Morrow County town of Irrigon.
Federal
prosecutors are seeking forfeiture of the ranch, listed in state incorporation
records as Stokes Landing Sport Horses.
Irina Walker, 60, and her husband John Wesley Walker, 67, are charged with hosting cockfighting derbies and illegal gambling at their ranch outside the small Morrow County town of Irrigon. |
The
Oregonian newspaper identified Irina Walker, also known as Irina Kreuger, as a
daughter of the last king of Romania.
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- Man, 28, arrested after dressing up as a dog and having sex with a cat
Personnel
records show John Wesley Walker was a Coos County sheriff's deputy from 1998 to
2003.
The Walkers
and four other people from Irrigon and Hermiston were to be arraigned in
federal court in Portland on Friday on charges of operating an illegal gambling
business.
No lawyer
for the Walkers or other defendants was listed as yet in court records.
Twelve
others from Oregon and Washington face lesser charges of conspiracy to violate
the Animal Welfare Act through illegal animal fighting. They are to be
arraigned in Portland and Yakima, Wash.
'Cockfighting
is illegal under federal law and under the laws of all 50 states,' Amanda
Marshall, U.S. attorney for Oregon, said in a statement.
Twelve others from Oregon and Washington face lesser charges of conspiracy to violate the Animal Welfare Act through illegal animal fighting |
'Besides
being a barbaric practice, cockfighting jeopardizes public health and safety
and facilitates the commission of other criminal acts.'
The indictment
said 10 different cockfighting derbies were held at the Walker's ranch between
April 2012 and April 2013, bringing in as much as $2,000 a day.
Blades were
attached to the birds' legs, spectators were charged admission, and food and
drink were sold, the indictment said.
The four
others charged with being part of the gambling business are Mario Perez, 62, of
Hermiston; David Sanchez, 29, of Irrigon; Jose Luis Virgen Ramirez, 48, of
Hermiston; and Aurelia Garcia Mendoza, 33, of Irrigon.
The exiled
King Michael and Queen Anne of Romania attended the baptism of Princess Irina's
daughter in Portland in 1987.
At the
time, she and her first husband, John Kreuger, raised horses near the southern
Oregon Coast.
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