Albany police: Illegal gambling house raided; 16 arrests made | VIDEO

ALBANY — Sixteen arrests were made when a law enforcement joint task force executed a search warrant at what they said was an illegal gambling house in East Albany Saturday night, according to officials with the Albany Police Department.

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At a news conference Monday at the Albany Police Department, officials stated that the arrests were made following a two month investigation of residence on the 1400 block of East First Avenue in Albany.

“The investigation was initiated in response to complaints from the community through various neighborhood meetings and through city commissioners about illegal activity and noise and issues stemming from this particular residence in that area,” said APD Deputy Chief Mark Scott, who led the news conference. “Our main message is that we take complaints from the citizens very seriously, and when someone has a neighborhood concern of an ongoing problem, we will do anything that we can to try to alleviate that problem.”

The owner of the home, Mary Helen Morgan, was charged with keeping a place of gambling, disorderly house and illegal alcohol sales.

“The investigation shows that she was the owner of the residence and was receiving part of the proceeds from the gambling operation,” said Scott.

Scott said that when the search warrant was executed there were approximately 60 people in the front yard of the residence and as many as 20 more people in the house.

“Everyone that was there was detained and interviewed,” Scott said. “Those who had outstanding warrants were charged for their warrants and those who were actually participating in gambling when the officers arrived on the scene were charged with gambling. Of course those who were in possession of illegal drugs were charged with that.”

Patrick Lyons, Larry Jester, Ronnie Gibson, Michael Spurlin and Rodriguez Laster were charged with gambling. Quinton Fletcher, Cornelius Evans, Michael Edwards and Lillian Whitlock were each charged with gambling, possession of cocaine and possession of spice, police said.

Elizabeth Hicks, Antonio Thomas and Gary Anderson Jr. were each charged with probation violation. Antonio Fletcher was charged with probation violation, possession of cocaine, possession of MDMA (ecstasy) and possession of spice, police said.

Shunterria Brown was charged with giving false name, possession of cocaine, possession of spice and probation violation, police said.

In addition to the arrests, officers said they issued citations to four other individuals. Kenneth Green was issued a citation for open container, and David McClain, Kamila Parker and Carlton Cobey each was issued a citation for possession of less than one ounce of marijuana.

In addtion to the arrests and citations, Scott said officers seized several items from the house, which was described as an illegal “store.” Those items included a gun, drugs, a 2004 Chevy Silverado belonging to Lyons, a 2003 GMC Yukon and trailer containing miscellaneous lawn care equipment belonging to Gibson, and $4,100 in cash. Items such as alcohol, tobacco products, snacks and drinks were also being sold illegally at the residence, police said.

The raid was the product of a joint investigation of members of the Albany Police Department’s Special Detail Unit, Albany Police Department’s Gang Unit, Albany Police Department’s Uniform Bureau, Albany Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Bureau, Albany-Dougherty Drug Unit, Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office, Dougherty County District Attorney’s Office, and the state Probation and Parole Office.

Dougherty County District Attorney Greg Edwards, who was present at Monday’s news conference, praised the efforts of law enforcement in conducting the investigation and said Saturday’s arrests sent a message to the community.

“The other message we want show is that we are working in combined task forces to make sure that all of our law enforcement agencies are working together to make sure these operations are carried out,” Edwards said. “Working with the District Attorney’s office have been representatives from the various agencies and I have, working directly with the agencies, particularly the Albany Police Department, embedded an assistant DA who helped coordinate a lot of the activities that were carried out in this operation.”