DOB: 2-17-1979
White male, 6'2", 300-lbs
Offense/Statute: 3rd Degree Sex Offense - Art. 27
Date Convicted: 29 January 2002
MARYLAND -- An Odenton man was sentenced Monday to two years in prison for his role in a cockfighting operation that shocked the community in June.
Ethan Harmon, 36, pleaded guilty to five cockfighting-related charges in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court.
In addition, Harmon was sentenced to five years of supervised probation upon his release and was ordered to pay more than $1,100 in restitution to Anne Arundel County Animal Control.
Wachs also ordered Harmon not to own any animals upon his release, except for the dog now owned by his wife, said Heather Epkins, a spokeswoman for the State’s Attorney’s Office.
Harmon was also sentenced Monday to 2-1/2 years, with all but six months suspended, for violating his probation from an earlier case. He was on probation for failing to register as a sex offender, Epkins said.
Harmon pleaded guilty to a third-degree sex offense in 2001, according to online court records.
Caitlin O’Donnell, the public defender representing Harmon, did not immediately return a call for comment Tuesday.
In June, police seized about 270 chicks and hens from Harmon’s home on Patuxent Road. Many of the animals were living in squalor; others were dead.
Dozens of the birds had been maimed in preparation for fighting. Those that survived were ultimately euthanized.
Police said at the time they didn’t believe any cockfighting took place at the home.
Investigators believed Harmon was breeding, raising and selling birds to fight outside of the area, police said.
Harmon told police he sent some of the birds to the Philippines to fight, according to charging documents. He was the only person charged in the operation.
Police said Harmon bragged on social media about his roosters’ wins and earnings, even posting videos of himself allowing roosters to spar.
Police launched an investigation after being tipped off about the activities at the home.
Reached by phone Tuesday afternoon, Anne Arundel State’s Attorney Wes Adams said he was satisfied with the sentence.
In addition to Harmon’s jail term, Adams said that it was important that Harmon “understand the financial damage he did to the county” in caring for the animals by paying restitution.
“It’s pretty despicable stuff,” Adams said of the charges of which Harmon was convicted.
At the time of the June raid, a police spokesman could not recall the last time a cockfighting case had been investigated in the county.
Adams, a prosecutor in Prince George’s County before being elected in November 2014, said that on rare occasions he has handled animal cruelty cases – usually involving a single animal.
“Not on a large scale like this,” he said.
(CapitalGazette.com - Dec 29, 2015)
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