LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – A Mexican national who helped run a cockfighting operation in northeastern Nebraska has been sentenced in the U.S. to federal prison.

Federal prosecutors in Nebraska say 48-year-old Fabian Castro was sentenced Wednesday to 16 months in prison. After his release, he will be placed on two years’ supervised release.

Castro pleaded guilty to one count of participation in an animal fighting venture. Prosecutors say Castro had 31 gamecocks when the U.S. Department of Agriculture conducted a search of an O’Neill ranch owned by Juan Pablo Sanchez-Delgado. Officials say Castro trained the birds to fight in matches where others would gamble on the outcome of the fights. Several of the birds had visible injuries and deformities from training and the fights.

Sanchez-Delgado was among several business owners targeted in immigration raids last August at Nebraska and Minnesota businesses and plants. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to harbor aliens and will be sentenced in the coming weeks.