Police Raid Poker Game in Michigan
Written by Renee K | Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
An undercover operation led to the arrest of twenty people in Michigan charged with attending an illegal poker tournament. The surveillance began in November 2009, with an undercover cop from the Michigan State Police attending tournaments in order to track members of the group accused of playing in these tournaments. The policeman attended another in December and a final one over this past weekend.
Saturday’s tournament was played at the Ramada Plaza Hotel in Kentwood, which was raided by the police. The group was arrested and charged with “frequenting or attending gaming places”. Punishment for this misdemeanor charge? Up to 90 days in prison.
Police also said that there was a warrant out for the arrest of the operator of these tournaments. The police seized a range of poker paraphernalia from the hotel, including poker chips, gaming cards and cash.
In addition, the police were given a little bit more than they bargained for, after they found topless dealers serving the clients in the poker tournament. The “Angels of the Night” also performed “different aerobic exercises”, according to Lt. Curt Schram.
Schram also admitted that the group of poker players, who called themselves the Grand Rapids Poker Club, openly advertised their games to the public several days in advance.
“They were so open about it that it was really unusual,” said Lt. Schram. “They put out fliers, advertised on Craigslist and were trying to bring people in by telling them it was all legal.”
Which brings us to the question of why an undercover cop had to attend no less than three ‘surveillance’ tournaments in order to nab the guys in the first place?
The hotel owner, Norman Leslie, distanced himself from the poke tournament and said that when the group booked the room, he had no idea that it would be used for an “illegal activity”.
“We value our relationship with the City of Kentwood and its leaders, and the community in which we serve and as such, we have made changes to our event evaluation process to ensure 100 percent that this will never happen again,” he said piously.
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· Written by Renee K · Filed Under Poker News · Comments Off
