Online gambling defendant surrenders to police

After two months on the run from multi-million dollar online gambling charges in New York, Andres Arriaga (41), a resident of Valencia (an affluent neighbourhood of Santa Clarita in Los Angeles County) surrendered to New York police, a spokesman confirmed this week.

Radio station KHTS reports that Arriaga was able to escape arrest after an indictment on October 28, 2015, in which 17 other people, including five Santa Clarita Valley residents, were accused of running an online gambling operation based in New York that generated revenues of over $30 million.

Los Angeles police officers, empowered by the indictment and search warrants, and cooperating with New York police, raided 17 homes belonging to suspects. Arriaga’s home was amongst those visited, but he was away at the time and disappeared, whilst most of his fellow suspects were picked up within 24 hours of the raids taking place..

Hernandez Ricardo, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department, revealed that officers from several police agencies worked together on the operation, including organised crime detectives with the New York and Los Angeles Police Departments.

Prosecution for the case is being handled out of Queens County, New York, where the operation was allegedly based.

The alleged leader of the gambling ring, Cyrus Irani, was placed in custody in New York after waiving his right to an extradition hearing last month, according to LAPD officials.

All of the defendants in the case could face a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison if convicted.