My tax dollars at work. Awesome.

[Drew_Fl]

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/11/25/1865941/poker-ring-busted-in-university.html

Cliff notes: law enforcement spent man hours and cash surveilling this dudes place then using swat to break down the door and use a flashbang to storm the apartment. Charlotte has a large gang presence just like many other metro areas and this is how law enforcement assets are allocated? glad to see we have our priorities straight.

It may not look like much, but police say an apartment off Flat River Drive in the University area is Garry Self’s version of Las Vegas.

“There is no law against having friends in my house, it’s not open to the public,” he says.

Due to neighborhood complaints, police had Self’s place placed under surveillance. Police say the 46-year-old was breaking the law by having nightly poker games.

We asked him if he was making money from the games.

“No sir,” he replied. “I was losing money because I’m supplying all the drinks.”

A vice officer working on the case disagreed.

“I would say that’s false, he was operating a gambling enterprise,” said the officer. “It may not have been large-scale but he wasn’t doing it for free.”

Self was arrested on gambling charges; but police say that during their investigation they also uncovered heroin use among the customers.

“My concern was with the needles being in the neighborhood, there are small children that live in that complex, we didn’t want any of them finding it and getting injured," said a police officer.

Self showed us where the SWAT team broke down the door, used a flash-bang device and made all of the ten people inside get on the floor. He thinks it was a waste of tax dollars.

“There is nobody here wanted for murder, there’s no rapist in here,” he says.

Police say they came in forcefully because they knew there would be a large number of people inside.

Officers didn’t find any drugs and Self is not facing any drug charges. Investigators estimate Self was making between one and two thousand dollars every day he held games.

Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/11/25/1865941/poker-ring-busted-in-university.html#ixzz16MeERDsj

[mardi gras skin]

The home owner was pulling in 1 to 2 grand a night? The guy opened up a makeshift casino in a neighborhood. I'm glad the cops put an end to it.

I expected to open this thread and find a $100 million dollar study on threat snoring gorillas pose zoo keepers or something.

[HighOnHendrix]

The home owner was pulling in 1 to 2 grand a night? The guy opened up a makeshift casino in a neighborhood. I'm glad the cops put an end to it.

I expected to open this thread and find a $100 million dollar study on threat snoring gorillas pose zoo keepers or something.

If you believe the cops. It's not like they're going to readily admit they screwed up on something like this.

[Bliz]

If you believe the cops. It's not like they're going to readily admit they screwed up on something like this.

They're also not going to put all of their evidence on display for some newspaper story. No better reason to believe the guy facing charges.

The part that makes me the most suspicious of him is supplying the drinks. Okay, every once in a while? Sure. But supplying all the drinks for 10 people every night would add up seriously fast. Hard to do that if you're not making a lot of money doing what you're doing.

[mardi gras skin]

If you believe the cops. It's not like they're going to readily admit they screwed up on something like this.

Instead, you you believe the home owner loved poker so much he was buying a bunch of liquor with all the profit he made...because he's just a benevolent kind of guy.

Uh huh.

If this were going on in my neighborhood, I'd be content that my tax dollars were being put to good use.

[SnyderShrugged]

Gambling, another victimless crime, and yes. fraking waste of tax dollars and I dont care if he made 50k every night.

[praise_gibbs]

Maybe it is my young mind,

Poker games, whether legal or illegal, is harmful. I couldn't careless what kind of money the homeowner was bringing in. In this day and age, with the way violence is running amok, our tax dollars could be used towards more prevalent advances to make our streets and society a tad bit more safe.

Good on the police for taking that monster of a gambler off the streets for now. I'm thinking the death penalty should be next for that animal lol.

[mcsluggo]

it is not a "friendly poker game" if he is having a "poker party" every night. It is a business.

I wouldn't want that business running in my residentially zoned neighborhood either.

[Monte51Coleman]

A friendly card game in the neighborhood? What could possibly go wrong?

[Tulane Skins Fan]

Proof that people will complain anything the government does these days. Even fighting crime is now an unreasonable use of government resources. :doh:

[HighOnHendrix]

Instead, you you believe the home owner loved poker so much he was buying a bunch of liquor with all the profit he made...because he's just a benevolent kind of guy.

Uh huh.

If this were going on in my neighborhood, I'd be content that my tax dollars were being put to good use.

I didn't say that I believed him, either. For them to put a dollar value on what he was bringing in is stretching it, imo. Anyway the point is that they could have took down a crackhouse or something and instead they do this.

[Ellis]

I have a friend who struggled with his gambling addiction at places like this.

His mother has spent close to $50K over the last decade paying off bookies that he owed.

Most of that money was from a life insurance policy she got when her husband (his step father) died.

I'm really glad he finally got help and got away from places like that.

[SnyderShrugged]

Proof that people will complain anything the government does these days. Even fighting crime is now an unreasonable use of government resources. :doh:

Proof that people will find any action whatsoever, even a victimless "crime" deemed illegal solely by the virtue that some find it immoral, acceptable simply because it's considered "crime fighting".:doh:

[Hubbs]

The home owner was pulling in 1 to 2 grand a night? The guy opened up a makeshift casino in a neighborhood. I'm glad the cops put an end to it.

I expected to open this thread and find a $100 million dollar study on threat snoring gorillas pose zoo keepers or something.

They're also not going to put all of their evidence on display for some newspaper story. No better reason to believe the guy facing charges.

The part that makes me the most suspicious of him is supplying the drinks. Okay, every once in a while? Sure. But supplying all the drinks for 10 people every night would add up seriously fast. Hard to do that if you're not making a lot of money doing what you're doing.

Instead, you you believe the home owner loved poker so much he was buying a bunch of liquor with all the profit he made...because he's just a benevolent kind of guy.

Uh huh.

If this were going on in my neighborhood, I'd be content that my tax dollars were being put to good use.

it is not a "friendly poker game" if he is having a "poker party" every night. It is a business.

I wouldn't want that business running in my residentially zoned neighborhood either.

Proof that people will complain anything the government does these days. Even fighting crime is now an unreasonable use of government resources. :doh:

What the hell is wrong with everyone? I entered this thread expecting to find a bunch of people making sarcastic comments about how evil it is to have friends over to your place to play poker. If I could do it every day, I would, too. You'd seriously be in favor of arresting me for it? Playing cards with my own friends in my own Goddamn house? Of course I'd buy them drinks if I could afford it. They're my friends. If I win the lottery I'm going to buy a lot of **** for my friends. Hell, if I win the lottery, the mods won't ever have to pay a cent for the ES servers for the rest of their lives. Do you want to arrest me for that, too?

Edit: By the way, mardi gras, in high school I would play poker with my friends for a while nearly every day after school. We'd go to one of the houses near the school - often mine - and play with sports on TV in the background. And it was a running joke that the guys that were losing money would try to make up for it by drinking and eating as much of the host's food as they possibly could.

It was funny, but it was also true. So yes, it's quite possible that this guy was buying drinks for his friends nearly every day. God only knows how much we went through.

[TimmySmith]

It appears he was running an illegal gambling house. Not cause for a SWAT intervention. The drug angle is apparently a ruse. One cop banging on his door for a few consecutive nights could have achieved the same result. It was a waste.

[Drew_Fl]

Proof that people will complain anything the government does these days. Even fighting crime is now an unreasonable use of government resources. :doh:

Heaven forbid I'd rather the police use swat teams and flashbangs and surveillance teams to combat the violent crimes that dominate my news every night. Your smugness is off-putting. People can disagree once in awhile with how things happen.

[generaltso]

a friendly card game in the neighborhood? What could possibly go wrong?

omar coming.

[Monte51Coleman]

omar coming.

indeed.