More Than $53,000 Found At Two Alleged Gambling Houses
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Department has found more than $53,000 at two alleged gambling houses in Star City.
Three people are facing felony charges as a result of an investigation of two-penny arcades that has lasted several months.
One by one Lincoln County Sheriff Larry McGee and his deputies loaded more than seventy electronic gaming machines into trucks Friday night.
They hauled the machines away from the alleged gambling houses that residents in Star City first told authorities about in January.
(Sheriff Larry McGee) "We took statements from numerous amounts of people and obtained a search warrant and searched at time out and Eckland's across the street."
The alleged gambling house known as "time out" was located in the shopping center off Highway 425, operated by a woman named Frances Burr.
Authorities found a total of $52,000.75 inside Burr's 42 machines and her vehicle.
The other alleged gambling house was on the opposite side of the road with a "garage sale" sign out front, operated by Larry and Thelma Eckland. More than $1600 was found in the Eckland's 32 machines.
(McGee) "From tonight we heard that there's a couple more around town that we weren't aware of. We don't have the exact location on them but we do intend to shut those down as well."
As authorities investigate other possible gambling locations, the Ecklands and Frances Burr have been booked and released from the Lincoln County Jail pending charges.
2005-06-12
