Reports in the San Antonio press this week claim that local police
searched a home owned by Richard Lee, the recent winner of nearly
$3 million at the World Series of Poker, for evidence of an extensive
illegal Internet gambling operation.
"This operation is the largest here in San Antonio,"
the publication quotes local police spokesman Joe Rios, who confirmed
the search warrant was served on a Shavano Park home in the 100 block
of Geddington Street.
According to Bexar County Appraisal District tax records, the home
belongs to a Richard Lee, who TV reports and a police source said
is the same Richard Lee who was a finalist at the World Series of
Poker three weeks ago.
Lee, who placed sixth in the WSOP Main Event for $2,803,851, was apparently
the target of a long-running investigation into what the newspaper
termed an "extensive illegal Internet gambling operation."
Specific details of the operation were not divulged.
"Our vice detectives have been conducting a comprehensive
investigation where they believe proceeds from illegal gambling have
bought a lot of items in this house," Joe Rios told WOAI,
a San Antonio Television Station. "Anytime we have that
type of investigation that leads us to believe there's illegal property
in the house we have authority to seize it. We're taking all the vehicles
and all the property inside the house."
Police had investigated the home for months, Rios said, before procuring
enough evidence to secure the search warrant.
Inside the home, they found dozens of receipts for deposits on payouts
from gambling proceeds, Rios said. "We're talking payouts
well over $500 000," he said. "It was a pretty
well-oiled machine they were running out here."
Although one of several houses searched, Rios called the home owned
by Lee the "brains or the nerve center of the operation."
A money-counting machine; five Lexus cars, including two sports utility
vehicles and three sedans; multiple plasma-screen TVs; and a large
amount of cash were seized, he said.
No one was arrested, Rios said, "although now that we have
found the evidence, we can move forward."