DA releases list of how money seized from gambling raids has been spent

Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney David Cooke on Wednesday released an accounting of how his office has spent the more than $1 million seized in recent gambling-related lawsuits.

Since a 2014 raid closed 10 Bibb County stores, sparking a racketeering suit that resulted in nearly $1.2 million in settlements, Cooke’s office has filed similar cases in Crawford and Peach counties. The office also has taken the lead in a statewide case that includes coin-operated gaming machines in stores in 31 counties.

Criminal charges are pending in all the cases.

Cooke said he has received an Open Records Act request for the information and has posted a ledger of how the money has been spent to his office’s website, www.maconbibb.us/district-attorney, where the data will be updated regularly.

“I am proud of the way we have used these resources for the benefit of our community,” Cooke said at a news conference. “We have had the opportunity to assist agency partners who help victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse.”

The list of expenditures released Wednesday includes payments to the Family Counseling Center, Crescent House and Crisis Line and Safe House.

Amounts shared with other agencies who participated in the gambling raids also are listed.

Some of the money was used to pay for wiretaps, training for prosecutors and law enforcement, witness travel, and office supplies for the district attorney’s office.

The list also reflects a $15,000 payment made earlier this month to Crawford County to pay for dash cameras, body armor and Tasers for their sheriff’s deputies.

“Whether it’s providing seed money for the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office to buy body cameras for their deputies, or it’s making sure that Crawford County sheriff’s deputies have adequate body armor and dash cameras, I am thankful that we are able to better ensure the safety of our officers and the community,” Cooke said.

Attorneys fees for Michael Lambros, the special prosecutor hired to handle the gambling cases, also were paid from the seized funds.

During the news conference, Cooke pledged to use forfeited funds to match donations up to $10,000 to the Exchange Club of Macon’s 19th annual golf tournament scheduled for Oct. 4.

The money, he said, will be used to benefit the Crescent House and the agency’s annual symposium that trains law enforcement, prosecutors and first responders on how to better investigate and prosecute allegations of sexual and physical abuse against children.

The news conference comes about a week after Cooke and the Georgia Lottery said fiscal year 2016 data from a computerized accounting system — when compared with self-reported data from prior years — shows gaming machine and store owners under-reported sales, profits and redemption amounts.

Statewide, players put more than $2 billion into the machines during the fiscal year that ended June 30 as compared to between $1.1 and $1.3 million reported the prior year, according to the lottery.

More than $201 million was played in Middle Georgia last year, according to lottery data.

Cooke has come under fire as a defendant in a federal lawsuit filed earlier this month by owners of the now-shuttered Captain Jack’s Crab Shack in Byron who allege that Cooke and others fabricated evidence and violated their civil rights in a 2015 gambling raid.

Cooke, who has filed a racketeering suit against the business claiming the raid revealed evidence of illegal gambling, has said the claims of misconduct are false.

Another federal lawsuit relating to the Byron case was filed Monday in federal court.

Amanda Mullis, an employee of a company that owns machines involved in the raid at Captain Jack’s, contends her constitutional rights were violated and she was unlawfully detained on allegations she tried to tamper with the machines.

Byron police Chief Wesley Cannon, Lambros, Cooke’s special prosecutor, along with the city of Byron, Byron police and a Byron police investigator are named as defendants in the suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Gaming machines seized in the raid were stored in a facility under lock and key. Mullis’ employer, GNB Amusement Inc., supplied keys for an expert to examine the machines and sought to retrieve the keys days later at the storage facility, according to the suit.

She didn’t know the keys had been returned by mail and she didn’t try to enter the area where the machines were located, according to the suit.

At the time, Mullis was eight months pregnant and it wouldn’t have been physically possible for her to have tampered with the machines due to their size, weight and how they were stored, she contends in the suit.

While being interrogated, Mullis experienced abdominal pain and pre-labor contractions, according to the suit.

Mullis is seeking punitive and compensatory damages.

Criminal charges against her are pending.

This story was originally published August 31, 2016 at 10:59 AM with the headline "DA releases list of how money seized from gambling raids has been spent."