Sheriff’s Office busts suspected illegal gambling business in south Sacramento
Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies shut down a suspected illegal casino in south Sacramento for the second time in six months, arresting three people and seizing more than $100,000 in suspected proceeds, authorities said.
After a weeklong investigation, the Sheriff’s Office Problem-Oriented Policing, or POP, team served a search warrant at a home in the 8200 block of Florin Road that deputies said was operating as an illegal casino. Deputies received a tip May 20 and recognized the address from a previous gambling bust there in November.
Following surveillance, deputies raided the property May 27, arresting three people and seizing five firearms, gambling machines and over $100,000 in cash, Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. Ed Igoe said.
A minutelong video posted on the Sheriff’s Office social media channels, set to the song “Coming in Hot,” shows casino-style gaming machines, televisions and decorative lighting inside the home. Deputies also recovered firearms, including one hidden in a bathtub and another found on the roof.
One of those arrested, a 52-year-old man, was also arrested during the November raid at the same location. He was booked on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm and possessing stolen property. He also faced firearm-related charges in the earlier case.
The other arrests included a New York fugitive wanted for armed robbery and another felon accused of illegally possessing a firearm, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The raid was carried out by the POP Team, a specialty unit that conducts surveillance and investigations aimed at securing search warrants and addressing chronic neighborhood crime problems.
The Sheriff’s Office said the unit is at the “brink of elimination” under Sacramento County’s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which would cut $13.7 million and eliminate 48 positions within the department.
According to Igoe, the cuts could eliminate POP teams in the North and Central divisions, as well as the Homeless Outreach Team, Gang Suppression Unit and Identity Theft Bureau.
Igoe said POP teams conduct the surveillance and investigative work needed to secure search warrants and tackle ongoing neighborhood crime issues — work that patrol deputies, who primarily respond to calls for service, often do not have time to perform.
These operations provide “long-term solutions for chronic problems happening in a neighborhood,” Igoe said, and “get bad people who are doing bad stuff out of the neighborhood, so neighborhoods can thrive.”
The proposed cuts come as the County Executive Office projects a $101 million budget shortfall tied in part to impacts from federal funding cuts, according to a county spokesperson.
The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to begin public budget hearings Wednesday.
