Two Charged With Cockfighting In Greene County

Two men in Greene County are being charged with cockfighting. The Greene County Sheriff’s office says the two men, James Bailey and Steven Funderburg were charged Sunday after a cockfighting incident in the Mosheim area. The sheriff’s office says that several others fled the scene. Bailey and Funderburg posted bond and will appear in court in February.

Cockfighting is a Class A misdemeanor in the state of Tennessee, but some lawmakers have proposed increasing the offense to a Class E felony. That has yet to pass though. Cockfighting has a long history in East Tennessee, even though it does not get a lot of attention. Back in 2023, 98 people were charged for cockfighting in Union County. It’s not just East Tennessee though, in 2009, 200 individuals were charged for their involvement in a cockfighting enterprise in Hohenwald, TN known as “The Shiloh Club”.