On May 15th, 2008, a substantial number of illegal gaming machines were destroyed in Hamilton County. It was an interesting sight to see a dump truck loaded with video poker machines, reduce to broken pieces with the use of a back hoe. The machines had been temporarily stored in a space in the sheriff's property room for about 1 and a half years.
Ms. Janice Adkinson together with the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department explained how video poker machines have become a real threat to most families living in the county. She said that they receive calls, like from a wife saying that their husband is throwing away all of his paycheck in the facilities with video poker machines. It just affects the family especially when you have children and you have no capability to pay the bills.
Utilizing the video poker machines to gamble is illegal under the existing law in Hamilton County but Sheriff Alan Branum commented that it is only considered as a misdemeanor with minimum punishment. Like the accused in this case; they have all plead guilty, paid the corresponding fine and forfeited the $15,000 seized by the police officers in the raid. But no one went to jail.
The sheriff's department also destroyed fifteen thousand pirated CD's and DVD's which were confiscated in a raid on East Main Street on 2007.
06/02/2008 02:48 PM