Plano Illegal Gambling Bust Is Good News & Big $$ For City
COLLIN COUNTY (CBSDFW.COM) - It was a bust 12 years in the making. Authorities in Plano have taken down a major illegal gambling operation worth billions of dollars. That's good news for the city in more ways than one.
Plano police not only broke up a billion dollar gambling operation, but they will reap millions for the department that they say will be put to good use on guns patrol cars and a lot more.
The seizure of gold, cash and collectibles could result in a lot of new police equipment for Plano officers. Department spokesperson David Tilley said the money could be used on, "Anything that will basically help us our community in a better way."
Thursday's announcement that authorities took down a major illegal gambling operation will result in Plano receiving nearly $5 million in seized revenue. "This will give us a little more of an opportunity to maybe get some things that we feel, through our research, is going to be beneficial to our department," Tilley said.
More than two-dozen people have pleaded guilty to the Caribbean-based internet gambling operation that Plano police were given a heads up about through an anonymous tip 12 years ago.
An undercover officer discovered Southlake resident Albert Reed Junior was running a pyramid scheme that reaped $5 billion that was spent high priced houses and other assets on display at a news conference Thursday.
U.S. Attorney Andrew Stover explained the scheme. "The more money and the more sub-agents you get to bring in money, in the gambling operation, the more money that gets pushed up to the top and the more that is made."
Stover said it seemed like they were making more money than they knew what to do with. "They had just stacks and stacks of $100 bills. I mean, the safes that they had -- one safe had more than a million dollars in it."
So think about the dividends for the City of Plano. Their share of the seized assets is nearly $5 million. The annual police budget is $55 million. And while there are restrictions on how what the money can be spent on, officials say they won't have a hard time putting it to good use.
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