Judge resentences leader of gambling operation

Eight weekends of confinement have been added to the sentence of the ringleader of a local gambling operation, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

Last month James Chadwick Tucker was sentenced to 42 months probation, a fine of $3,000 and a special assessment of $100 for his role in running a gaming house in Shelbyville in 2008.

However, United States District Judge Harry S. Mattice, Jr. resentenced Tucker on Thursday, adding that he shall be confined in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons from 6 p.m. each Friday until 6 p.m. each Sunday for eight consecutive weekends commencing within the first six months of Tucker's probation.

Tucker is also required to wear an electronic monitoring device and must participate in a gambling addiction treatment program. His ex-wife, Christina Tucker, was earlier sentenced to two years probation for her role in the illegal operation.

Motions filed in November on James Tucker's behalf requested a mitigated sentence of probation, which was below the advisory guideline range of 12 to 18 months that was calculated in Tucker's pre-sentence report.

Tucker's attorney, Peter J. Strianse, told the court that the personal history and characteristics of Tucker, a 39-year-old former Marine with no history of prior convictions, "weigh in favor of a tailored or mitigated sentence."

According to the amended factual basis for the guilty plea, the Tuckers began operating the gambling business at 101 Tillett Court in January 2008 and it continued until Aug. 12, 2008, the day the search warrant was executed, following an investigation by the Shelbyville Police Department, the 17th Judicial District Drug Task Force, the TBI and the FBI.

A total of 33 people were caught in the raid where authorities took $48,000 in cash, gambling paraphernalia, a small amount of marijuana and firearms.

Last September, 15 people who were facing misdemeanor charges pleaded guilty and paid fines and court costs totaling $327 each, as well as giving up any money that was seized during the raid of the gaming house.

Federal documents say the Tuckers financed the illegal business in part by leasing the building in which the gambling business was conducted.

At different times during the nine-month operation, the Tuckers "would and did provide payments to the security personnel and arranged for the dealers to receive direct payments from the gambling in the form of tips," the plea document stated.

The Tuckers also received the profits that were derived from the gambling operation, the factual basis for the plea states.

Two of the dealers caught in the raid, Andrew Welsh Craze and Samuel Cory Owens, were both found guilty in October of one count each of aggravated gambling promotion, a class E felony, and were sentenced by Circuit Court Judge Lee Russell to 18 months -- with 45 days in jail, and the rest of the sentence under probation.