Irina Walker and her husband John Wesley Walker.
A Romanian princess accused of running cockfights at her American ranch has pleaded guilty to running an illegal gambling business with her husband.
On Wednesday, Irina Walker pleaded guilty to the gambling charges under a plea deal in which charges of animal fighting and conspiracy to violate the animal welfare act were dismissed.
Walker’s father was King Michael I of Romania, who was forced to abdicate by communists in 1947.
He raised his family in exile.
In court, the 61-year-old admitted that she financially profited from the fights – in which roosters had knives strapped to their legs and fought to the death.
“I provided food and beverage, your honor, and the location,” she told district judge Michael Mosman.
Walker and her husband John, a retired sheriff’s deputy, hosted at least ten cockfighting fights in a barn at their Irrigon ranch, which is approximately 175 miles from Portland.
Assistant U.S. attorney Stephen Peifer said the couple charged spectators $20 to enter, and often attracted more than a hundred spectators.
Peifer said that Irina Walker had initially provided food for the spectators, but her husband brought in caterers to provide tacos after her spectators disliked her food.
Her 68-year-old husband, who worked for the Coos County sheriff’s office from 1998 to 2008, told the judge an experienced cockfighting referee had originally approached him about staging fights.
Originally the fights were held outside, but Walker later built a barn, which he told the judge had been for hay.
Walker, who owned several guns, was allegedly in charge of security, and also arranged for a company to provide portable rest rooms.
The individuals who brought the roosters to fight paid $1,000 to enter, and the pool ranged from $10,000 to $18,000.
The person whose roosters won the most fights took home the money, except for the 10% takeout kept by the referees.
Walker and her husband John, had accepted plea deals in the case, and are due to be sentenced on October 22. They were released to await sentencing.
According to Oregon Live, as part of the deal they must sell part of their ranch by November 2015 and forfeit $200,000 to the government.
The government has recommended a sentence of probation for the couple.
Irina Walker moved to the U.S. from Switzerland in the 1980s, her daughter Angelica Kreuger, from a previous marriage, told AP last year.
Kreuger said her mother had enjoyed horse riding and gardening while she raised her two children. She later married John, who was a family friend and neighbour, and they moved to rural Irrigon.
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