Oklahoma City Gambling Raid Leads to Eight Arrests, Suspected Marijuana Seized
Posted on: November 1, 2022, 04:06h.
Last updated on: November 1, 2022, 04:06h.
Eight suspects were arrested following a recent raid of an Oklahoma City, Okla. illicit gambling joint. Gambling machines, cash and gaming tables were discovered in the search, police said.
The raid took place on Friday in a 23rd Street property. It is located in the capital city’s northwest side.
Numerous sealed packages of suspected marijuana were also seized by police, KOKH, a local TV station, reported. The street value of the drugs was unknown, but it was described as “multiple pounds of marijuana” by KFOR, another local station.
The suspects were identified as Meilan Chen, 32, Meiyu Chen, 65, Ji Ni, 60, Lei Wang, 34, Shengkun Weng, 32, Hong Zheng, 34, Qi Zheng, 54, and Sha Zie, 36. Each was placed in the Oklahoma County Jail.
It is unclear if any of the suspects were related. Each suspect will face criminal trials in local courts.
The charges include distribution of a controlled substance, commercial gambling, and proceeds derived from violating a state statute, KFOR said.
The search was approved by a local judge after police presented evidence to a court. Officials requested a warrant for the raid.
Oklahoma Triple Murder
In another crime related to Oklahoma gambling, a suspected Oklahoma killer has charges pending after he turned himself in on Jan. 28.
He had called a relative, who is a police detective. He then allegedly confessed to two murders.
Robert Edwin Lewis, 61, was arrested shortly afterward. He was found playing a slot machine at the Cherokee Casino Tahlequah. He was apprehended at the Cherokee Nation casino.
The next day, police found the bodies of three victims buried under leaves at Lewis’s family property at Eldon Hill near Tahlequah, authorities said. Lewis later reportedly confessed to the death of the third victim.
Following a police investigation and autopsies, Lewis was charged with three counts of murder, according to the Tahlequah Daily Press, a local newspaper. The charges are apparently still pending in local court.
The victims were identified as Quinley Lamb, 43, and Brian Shackleford, 42, both of Sharp County, Ark. Deanna Tippey, 36, of Cherokee County, was the third victim.
Lamb died from a fractured skull, Shackelford was killed by a cut to the throat, and Tippey was strangled, according to autopsies. Their bodies were reportedly discovered in shallow graves.
Tippey was identified as Lewis’s live-in girlfriend. She was killed three days after Lamb and Shackleford.
Lewis killed the first two victims on his birthday, Jan. 16, police said.
Chickasaw Mobile Gaming
On another gambling front, last month, Oklahoma’s largest gaming operator, the Chickasaw Nation, was approved for mobile gaming. Chickasaw lands comprise some 1,230 square miles in Oklahoma.
The National Indian Gaming Association (NIGC) okayed Class II online gaming for the tribe for bettors within the boundaries of its reservation.
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Source: casino.org
