Fifteen plead guilty in gambling raid

Fifteen persons who were facing misdemeanor gambling charges pled guilty Tuesday before Judge Charles Rich and are to pay fines and court costs totaling $327, plus give up any money that was seized during the raid of an alleged gaming house in Shelbyville last month.
(T-G Photo by Brian Mosely)

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Meanwhile, others facing charges sought pre-trial diversion, while those facing felony gambling counts were either in the process of hiring an attorney or had their next court date set.

On Aug. 12, a raid at 101 Tillett Court took place where high dollar poker games were allegedly held. A total of 33 people were caught up in the raid -- with seven facing felony charges and 26 others charged with misdemeanor gambling.

At first, the 26 facing the misdemeanor charges were asked to appear in the third floor courtroom due to a limitation of space in the first floor chambers, but the sudden availability of the second floor courtroom resulted in all appearing together for Tuesday's General Sessions court docket.

Judge Charles Rich ordered that the 15 who pleaded guilty must pay a $50 fine, plus court costs, which would total $327, plus forfeit any money that was seized the night of the gaming raid.

The two alleged ringleaders of the gaming house, 38-year-old James Chad Tucker and his wife Christina Tucker, 37, of Meadowlark Drive, are represented by attorney Clay Parker. Each were charged with one count of aggravated gambling promotion -- a class E felony -- and one count of possession of gambling devices, according to court records.

The five others facing felony charges of aggravated gambling promotion, Neal C. Phillips, 27, Woodbury; Samuel C. Owens, 27, Smyrna; Victor G. Gill, 48, Shelbyville; Andrew W. Craze, 26, Oliver Springs; and Christian E. Jeppsen II, 24, of Bell Buckle are either in the process of hiring an attorney or will have one appointed by the court.

According to Assistant District Attorney William Bottoms, those with misdemeanor offenses that are filing for pretrial diversion have a court date set for Oct. 21 while the persons facing felony gambling charges will return to court Nov. 18.

The raid conducted last month followed a four-month investigation by Shelbyville police, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the 17th Judicial District Drug Task Force, and the Tennessee Highway Patrol, along with an area FBI agent.

Authorities seized $48,000 in cash, gambling paraphernalia, a small amount of marijuana and firearms in the raid. Detective Brian Crews of the Shelbyville Police Department headed the investigation.

Surveillance was conducted on the building for several nights and authorities also had undercover agents in the building.

Crews said the Tuckers had a doorman, Gill, providing security for the gaming house and video cameras covering the outside of the building. Two-way radios were allegedly used so that the operators could know when a player would enter the structure.

Once inside, authorities found four commercial poker tables, each with room for 10 players plus the dealer.

"It was high stakes poker games where they were playing Texas hold 'em," Crews said in August, with one table having a "buy in" of $1,000, another at $500 and two tables with a $200 "buy-in."

"It was no limit, from what we understand," Crews said of the games.

So much evidence was taken from the building that it took a large U-Haul truck to carry it away. The TBI was called in because of the size of the operation, Crews said.