Thomas Hardiman, Cockfighting & Gambling, Tennessee 2014

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Two Tennessee men have pleaded guilty to conspiring to operate an illegal cockfighting and gambling business, announced David Rivera, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee.

Thomas Hardiman, 66, of Iron City, Tenn. and Walter Wooten, 58, of Leoma, Tenn. pleaded guilty today to conspiring to operate an illegal gambling business and to assisting an animal fighting venture.

This convictions relate to these defendants’ role with a cockfighting enterprise known as the ‘Shiloh Club,’ which operated in Hohenwald, Tenn. until being shut down by Federal and state authorities in May 2009.

During a hearing today before U.S. District Court Judge Kevin Sharp, Hardiman and Wooten admitted conspiring with each other, and with Howard Gay and Philip Heidekker, to conduct the illegal gambling business known as the Shiloh Club.

Hardiman and Wooten each acknowledged that the Shiloh Club operated regular cockfighting derbies in Hohenwald, Tenn. approximately every other Saturday from November until July, and that spectators and others gambled openly on the outcome of cockfights.

Each defendant also admitted that individuals traveled from out-of-state for the purpose of entering roosters in the cockfighting derbies and gambling on the outcome of the fights.

Hardiman acknowledged that the Shiloh Club collected more than $12,000 in entry fees at one particular derby, and that it collected more than $100,000 from spectators and participants over the course of its 2008-09 season.

Hardiman is scheduled to be sentenced on November 21, 2014 and Wooten is scheduled for sentencing on December 15, 2014. Each faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

This case was investigated by agents with the U.S. Department of Agriculture – Office of Inspector General and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, with valuable assistance from the Tennessee Highway Patrol, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Williamson County Sheriff’s Department, and the 21st Judicial District Attorney General’s Office.

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