5 men plead guilty to running illegal gambling operation in Florence – WBTW

Posted: Feb 19, 2021 / 04:08 PM EST / Updated: Feb 20, 2021 / 09:29 AM EST

FLORENCE, S.C. (WBTW) Five men pleaded guilty on Friday to running an illegal gambling operation in Florence County.

The five men are among nine people named in a federalindictmentthat details their alleged involvement in an illegal gambling business that generated around $2,000 in a single day.

Tyrone Eaddy, Kenneth Moore, George Dollard, Cliff Cantey and Leroy Barbouradmitted in federal court that they unlawfully and knowingly did conduct, finance, manage, supervise, direct, and own an illegal gambling business.

The penalty under their plea deal is a fine of $250,000, imprisonment of not more than five years, supervised release of not more than three years, a small special assessment and restitution to any victims identified by the court.

Among the four others indicted in the operation are ex- Florence County Lt. Mark Fuleihan and ex-Florence deputyTimothy Keefe. They both filed for a continuance along with Sheryl Kirby and Dale Smith, who also were indicted.

Aside from this indictment, Fuleihan also faces federal obstruction charges and an ethics bribery charge. The former Lieutenant was fired from the Florence County Sheriffs Office on April 2, the same day as his arrest.

According to the criminal complaint, Fuleihan had three illegal gambling machines in his garage in 2015 and also took an illegal gambling machine from the Florence County Sheriffs Office (FCSO) evidence building and delivered it to a co-conspirator, according to the criminal complaint.

The complaint states on several occasions, Fuleihan would seize illegal gambling machines from this source and give them to a co-conspirator.

The source said at one point, Fuleihan seized machines from him/her in Lake City, and then a couple of weeks later the source saw the same machines in a location in Johnsonville, being operated by the co-conspirator.

Here is the original post:

5 men plead guilty to running illegal gambling operation in Florence - WBTW