Orange County exacts game room exterminations

As veritable vice-enticing venues that act as habitats for all manner of criminal behavior from human to drug trafficking, illegal game rooms in Orange County might be on the brink of extinction after a set of August 2021 ordinances armed the sheriff’s office with stiffer restrictions regarding the gambling establishments.

Thanks to those guidelines, which followed months of intensive investigations into area game rooms, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) shut down two such establishments “for good” this month. During an exclusive interview, Orange County Sheriff Lane Mooney told The Examiner his department is “most definitely” targeting illegal game rooms in an effort to rid his jurisdiction of the crime magnets.“You have some people, a very small amount … a miniscule amount who are going in there to actually play the game and get some enjoyment out of it,” he said. “But I’m gonna tell you, the higher percentage of the people who frequent these establishments are going there to ply their trade.

“It attracts the bad element in our community. That’s where they ply their trade. They steal property, they swap it there for dope, they like to ping, that’s what they call it, ‘pinging,’ like playing the machine. See, they get excited when they take this meth, and they’re hopped up on this crap. They get on the machines with the lights and the sounds …”

“It magnifies it,” interjected OCSO Lt. Scott Jacks, who acted as chief detective during the county’s first two raids under the set of new game room ordinances. “It attracts the drug dealers because all these users and dope fiends are in these establishments. Instead of looking for business, they can walk in there and all their business is right there.”

Jacks said the county has stopped numerous people on the route from Louisiana “heading to the casino” in Orange County, referring to the area’s gas station game rooms. While Louisianans have their own, legal casinos within their own state, Mooney said the gamblers are looking to avoid their winnings being taxed, like they would at legitimate casinos.

“These are not reported,” he said about money gamblers win in Southeast Texas game rooms. “You make a big win over there, you’re going to pay taxes on it. You come over here, you’re just getting paid cash under the table.

“It’s like that everywhere, it’s not just little ol’ Orange County.”

The first of ‘many’ raids

The first raid Mooney’s department completed after the county adopted more stringent game room rules took place  April 18 at the Sunoco on Highway 12 in Mauriceville.

While looking for a fugitive in the game room portion and finding the establishment to be out of compliance with Orange County code, local code enforcement “revoked indefinitely” the gas station’s ability to operate their side business.

Detective Jacks and a partner entered the Sunoco game room in pursuit of a man wanted for a bevy of offenses throughout the county. The suspect was also a key witness in a murder trial that ended in a guilty plea.

“We went in there looking for the guy, noticed the clerk wasn’t wearing a name plate, which is part of our county ordinance, and we just went from there,” Jacks told The Examiner.

Like many criminals, who Sheriff Mooney says “ply their trades” in Southeast Texas game rooms, the wanted man was known to frequent the Mauriceville location.

“A lot of wanted people frequent those establishments,” Jacks confirmed.

Some of the drug and human traffickers who patronize these game rooms often have close relationships with the families who run them, according to Jacks, while “maybe 90%” of area game rooms are owned by a network of families based in Houston suburbs. In fact, previous reporting by The Examiner has revealed multiple Beaumont game rooms owned by Farid Datoo, a resident of Richmond, and associates of his who also reside near Houston.

According to information from the Texas Secretary of State, Sunoco is owned by Ranjit S. Khinda, a Humble resident with a $403,000 home by the Harris County Appraisal District’s valuation.

“We’ve turned all of our evidence over to the county, so we’ll see if something comes out,” Jacks said when asked whether Khinda would face charges for running the game room, adding that the man was in violation of about six ordinances – that’s why the county was able to shut down the game room for good. “That game room can never reopen again because you can’t reapply for a new permit if it’s within 1,500 feet of a church, school or established neighborhood.”

Although the Sunoco is a relatively new establishment to the county, it received its permit before the new ordinance was adopted, so it originally didn’t have to comply with the aforementioned geographical restrictions. However, Jacks confirmed Khinda could apply for and be granted another game room permit at another location.

When asked whether the Orange County District Attorney’s Office would pursue these cases, Jacks said, “We don’t know yet, this is our first one that was out of compliance.”

Speaking to out-of-town businessmen who build game rooms in Southeast Texas, only to allow all manner of criminal behavior to proliferate as they operate from afar, Mooney said, “Eventually it’s going to come back, karma is going to. People who are in the game room business, they’re in there to make money; they’re not in there to give a $5 prize out. They’re in there to make money, and they run a lot of money through these game rooms.”

Confluence of criminality found in second raid

In reference to the Gateway Travel Plaza raid, which took place two days later in Rose City along Interstate 10, Jacks revealed he couldn’t share details with the paper since it was an open investigation, explaining, “It’s a lengthy process and a lengthy investigation. Nobody has been arrested for the illegal gambling we’re investigating.”

According to information from the Texas Secretary of State, the Gateway Travel Plaza is owned by a NUCO2 SUPPLY LLC, a company that has “forfeited” its right to transact business in Texas. The company mailing address is an office building in Danbury, Connecticut. Attendants at the Rose City store refused to answer questions posed by The Examiner.

After a lengthy investigation into the travel center for being utilized as a den of drug distribution, illegal gambling, human trafficking and more crimes, OCSO deputies and investigators arrested two wanted fugitives from Louisiana, Allen Frank and Edith Mercer, who were living and working at the gas station.

Detectives were able to gather more evidence to further their investigation into multiple participants and suspects involved with organized criminal activity surrounding this business.

Detectives seized a large amount of U.S. currency, computers, video recording equipment and documents that will be used as evidence in this case.

“We seized all the computer boards off the machines,” Jacks said, explaining that officers took 52 motherboards worth between $1,500 and $4,500 each. “He had 51 machines, but he had a motherboard for another in a safe.”

Tip-toeing the line of legality

Although law enforcement knows how often crime proliferates in environments created by game rooms, Jacks says it’s not as simple as knocking down a game room door and arresting criminals involved since the game room, themselves could be acting legally.

“If they’re not in violation when we go in there, we can’t do anything,” Jacks said. “Of course, when we walk in, they’re not gonna pay cash money out, which is illegal in the state of Texas. The most you can win is equivalent to $5. If you won the major jackpot on one of these machines, you’re supposed to get back a bag of M&M’s and a spider whistle – and they’re paying cash.”

Mooney agreed it seems ridiculous to think adults are spending their money on a chance to win such nominal prizes, but that’s the only way game rooms can legally operate in Texas. So, in an effort to put the squeeze on these businesses that skirt the line of legality – when they don’t cross it entirely – Orange County commissioners aimed to arm their ordinance on game rooms with “more teeth,” according to Mooney. To that end, Orange County looked to their western neighbors in Jefferson County and emulated its game room restrictions. Those included requiring attendants to wear name tags, untinted windows and an entrance that remains unlocked during business hours.

“So, what we do is just like what (Jefferson County) does,” Mooney said, explaining that OCSO deputies can now look for these violations when they have cause to investigate criminals who might be inside a given game room.

The man who spearheaded Jefferson County’s current regulations on game rooms, District Attorney Bob Wortham, told The Examiner, “I’m a big proponent of prosecuting these places. I think it’s a compliment that other jurisdictions are following suit.”

When petitioning county officials to enact a resolution to regulate the burgeoning game room problems noted in hub cities such as Beaumont and Port Arthur, Wortham pointed to the Harris County migration ramping up since 2015.

“Unregulated game rooms,” the district attorney reported, “violate state gambling laws, generally operate behind locked doors and are not open to the public, generate large amounts of income that is not taxed, and are epicenters for many other criminal activities including, but not limited to capital murder, armed robbery, prostitution, other personal and property crimes, weapon offenses, illicit drug use and drug trafficking, money laundering, fraud, organized crime and public corruption.”

According to Wortham, the year prior to Jefferson County enacting its own regulation saw 3,494 total 911 calls for service in the immediate area around game rooms in Beaumont; and there were 1,210 total 911 calls to areas immediately surrounding game rooms in Port Arthur.

Currently in Beaumont, the chief of police is heading a city investigation into alleged illicit game rooms; but, according to Wortham, the district attorney’s office is working hand-in-hand to ensure justice is served.

“These are long-term, complex investigations,” Jacks said, who told The Examiner these raids represent the beginning of a trend in Orange County - and possibly neighboring Southeast Texas jurisdictions. “Everybody thinks we can just walk in there and bust them. It does not work like that; there’s a lot of work involved in making a case against an establishment like that. This particular one has been going on for 10 months, and it’s not over.”

– Jennifer Johnson contributed to this report