[BingoT]

Bingo raids seize 300 machines, $175,000

Source: The Huntsville Times
Sheriff's deputies arrested two people and are looking for a third after a late-night raid on two bingo halls here Saturday.

Triana VFW Charity Bingo on Wall Triana Highway and Triana Charity Bingo, at the Triana Industries facility on Sixth Street, were raided just before 11 p.m. Saturday. Nearly $175,000 in cash and more than 300 electronic bingo machines were seized.

Bernard Gomez, 49, and Kim Bradley, 36, were taken to the Madison County metro jail on misdemeanor charges of possession of a gambling device and promoting gambling, said sheriff's Sgt. Mike Salomonsky.

Gomez was also charged with two additional counts of the same charges on warrants stemming from a similar investigation last November. They were both released on bond Sunday.

Salomonsky said investigators were not able to locate a third person - John Young, whose age was unavailable. He is wanted on charges of promoting gambling and possession of a gambling device from the Sunday raid and a raid last November. Young is from Massachusetts and has an address listing for Owens Cross Roads, Salomonsky said.

Deputies were ready at both sites and entered them simultaneously at 10:42 p.m. Saturday, Salomonsky said.

Salomonsky said Gomez and Bradley are accused of operating the 511 Sixth St. bingo hall where deputies seized 74 electronic gaming machines and $16,000 in cash. There were between 25 and 50 people playing the machines when deputies shut it down.

The preliminary investigation shows that the money raised at that operation went to VFW organizations in the state of Texas, Salomonsky said.

Young is accused of operating the bingo house at 1168 Wall Triana, where investigators removed 244 machines and seized $157,015 in cash. There were about 200 people playing the machines there.

Of the cash seized at the Wall Triana site, Salomonsky said $7,515 was found in an insulated lunch box on the floor next to a safe, and $9,500 was found in a desk drawer.

The initial investigation showed that money from the 1158 Wall Triana site was going to the Camden Group Llc. of Montgomery. Salomonsky said he had not determined what type of charitable organization it is.

Salomonsky said the customers at the bingo halls were not charged because they could have perceived the operations as legal because both sites had business licenses from the town of Triana and/or Madison County, as well as tax stamps from Triana.

"We're trying to catch the ones who are promoting it," he said. "And this involves the same people we shut down several months ago."

The bingo operation at 511 Sixth St. was shut down last November when deputies seized 200 gambling machines and about $36,000 in cash. At the time, Ralph Malone, CEO of Triana Industries, confirmed he had leased part of his manufacturing space to a bingo operation.

Salomonsky said that when the operations were shut down in November, he filed charges against Gomez and Young but didn't arrest them. He said there was an agreement made with their attorneys to allow them time to prove the games they were using are legal.

"They never followed through, came back and set up again; so we shut them down again last night," Salomonsky said Sunday.

Salomonsky said charity bingo with a paper card is legal as long as no more than $1,000 is given out per session and no more than a total of $2,000 is given away in one week.

"I'm looking forward to going to court for the resolution," Salomonsky said. "If the judge says these are deemed gambling devices, then we'll have no more gambling.

"If a judge says no, these machines are in compliance with the law, then they can run their businesses."