Convenient Store Shut Down in Fayetteville
A service station was shut down completely in Fayetteville on Friday
night as police raided the business for paying illegal cash pay outs on
video poker machines. The service station, the Phillips 66 Pit Stop at
630 N. Glynn St was totally shut down and both the owner of the station
and a store employee were charged.
Store owner Wail Ibrahim Husein age 38, a resident of Hampton, was
charged with misdemeanor charges of keeping a gambling house and
possession of a gambling device as well as a charge of felony commercial
gambling. Store clerk Sherri Tucker, 34 and a resident of Senoia, was
charged with a misdemeanor of keeping a gambling house.
Fayette County Sheriff’s department officer Lt. Dwayne Prosser,
spokesman for the case, said that police were acting on a tip that cash
pay outs were being made on the stores poker machines. Prosser explained
that as part of the investigation, an undercover agent with the Fayette
Sheriff’s Drug Task Force entered the store and played at one of the
machines. The agent requested that he be given cash for his winnings,
although video poker machine winnings are intended to be used as points
for store purchases.
The agent received the cash after Tucker checked with Husein to see
if this was possible, according to the agent according to Task Force
commander Mike Pruitt. Agents and task force officers moved in
immediately after the cash payment was received, and temporarily shut
the store down. Cash was also seized from the store’s nine video poker
machines, although police failed to disclose the amount.
Prosser claims that there have been numerous complaints about people
playing the machines and losing large amounts of cash, including one
individual who lost $2,800 in one day. The money he spent at the machine
came from a tax refund check. Prosser reminded other store owners that
paying video poker machine winnings in cash remains an offense, and
indulging in such practice will get you in trouble with the law.
|
