Another defendant charged in Missouri grand jury gambling probe
News on 3 Apr 2012
News on 3 Apr 2012
The Missouri Grand Jury investigation into internet sports betting has unsealed the indictment on a third man following a joint FBI and Internal Revenue Service probe, reports the Joplin Globe.
The U.S. attorney’s office for the Western District of Missouri identified the man as Clyde A. Jeffries, 76, a longtime Joplin resident who currently lives in Las Vegas.
The indictment, which was unsealed Monday following Jeffries’ initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Springfield, alleges that he used the Internet “to transmit wagering information” and place bets on sports events “as part of his gambling business” from Oct. 25, 2010, to Feb. 8, 2011.
Two other Joplin men have been indicted by the same grand jury – William Lisle, 57, and Kenneth B. Lovett, 72, .
Lisle and Lovett, like Jeffries, are accused of using the Internet to transmit wagering information and place bets on sports events as part of a gambling business conducted between Jan. 1, 2003, and Feb. 8, 2011.
Lisle, who also faces 15 counts of money laundering, allegedly sent proceeds from the Joplin gambling operation to Costa Rica by Federal Express. According to federal court records, $98,263 in cash was seized from Lisle’s home when a search warrant was executed on Feb. 8, 2011.
The existence of an FBI probe of gambling operations in Joplin was first made public in 2008 through the firing of Joplin police Lt. Geoff Jones.
Police Chief Lane Roberts said at the time that he fired Jones after consulting with FBI agents involved in an investigation that Roberts characterised as “national” in scope. Roberts said he fired Jones after speaking with the FBI agents because the Joplin Police Department “could not afford to compromise that investigation” or its relationship with the federal agency.
Although Roberts did not specify that the federal probe concerned gambling operations, Jones testified at a city hearing on the appeal of his dismissal that the FBI asked him about illegal gambling operations in Joplin and if he knew a suspected local bookie.
