Romanian Princess fined $200k over Cockfighting Case

Yesterday a Romanian princess avoided jail time but was hit with plenty of other stiff penalties for her role in a cockfighting case. Irina Walker and her husband, John, a former Sheriff’s Deputy, were sentenced to three years’ probation and fined $200,000 by U.S. District Court Judge Michael Mosman.

“I’m very sorry about my involvement in this business,” Irina said after receiving her sentence. “It was not my intention to go against the law.”

The Walkers pleaded guilty to the cockfighting charges against them back in July. And it appears that their willingness to work with prosecutors saved them from prison time. Furthermore, the couple will be able to travel internationally during their probation because Romanian King Michael I, Irina’s father, has health problems and may not live long. Irina expressed a willingness to see Michael I, who was forced to abdicate his throne by communists in 1947.

The couple was arrested last year when it was discovered that they had at least 10 cockfighting events at their ranch in Irrigon, Oregon, located 175 miles east of Portland. They charged each spectator $20 to see the fights, which featured roosters with knives attached to their legs. Irina and John Walker also made money by selling alcohol to the spectators, who bet on the outcome of the fights.

It cost $1,000 for people to enter their roosters in the fights, and the person whose rooster won the most fights would receive a prize worth between $10,000 and $18,000. Over a dozen people were charged in the case, with one woman who made food seeing her charges dropped by the prosecution. Everybody who was charged either pleaded guilty in Oregon or neighboring Washington while Ruben”Chino” Saltos Godina and Antonio “Toro” Dominguez Robles remain at large.

After leaving Romania, Irina Walker settled down with her first husband, John Kreuger, in Switzerland. They then moved to the US, had two children and lived in Coos County, Oregon for years. However, Irina eventually divorced Kreuger and married John Walker, a family friend and neighbor. The Walkers then moved to the rural area of Irrigon and lived in a triple-wide mobile home. But as part of the settlement in the cockfighting case, they’ll now be forced to sell their real estate to pay off the $200k debt.