THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 22, 1997 TAG: 9702220257
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MATTHEW DOLAN AND JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITERS
LENGTH: 84 lines
The Maryland-based supplier for several Hampton Roads bingo operations, including one currently under investigation by Virginia gaming officials, may be involved in embezzlement and improper sales of instant bingo tickets in Virginia, according to court papers.
The supplier, Frank Moran and Sons Inc. of Baltimore, is under investigation by the Virginia Charitable Gaming Commission in connection with the alleged embezzlement of as much as $1 million worth of instant bingo tickets by former Chesapeake bingo manager George West, commission officials confirmed Friday.
West, of Virginia Beach, allegedly diverted funds from the Deep Creek Baseball Association bingo operations to his personal use through the sale of instant bingo tickets, according to search warrants and affidavits filed in Virginia. Earlier this month, a court-authorized search of West's Portsmouth auto dealership found invoice records from Moran and Sons.
Telephone messages left on Tuesday and Friday for Moran and Sons were not returned.
A confidential informant told commission investigators in December that a ``Baltimore, Maryland-based supplier of gaming products was involved in a scheme to defraud charities of thousands of dollars in Virginia. The supplier was identified as Frank Moran and Sons Inc.,'' according to a search warrant affidavit filed in Baltimore Feb. 3.
The affidavit said the ``scheme took place over . . . six months,'' during which Moran, using a local sales representative, ``sold instant bingo tickets to numerous organizations, but disguised those sales as `non-gaming' supplies.'' Those supplies included items such as ``daubers'' - paint-pens used to mark off numbers on a bingo paper sheet, the affidavit said.
The informant said there were two separate records logged for each of the sales. The one given to the local bingo organization recorded only the sale of supplies such as daubers. But the supplier's records reflected the true nature of the sales - the instant tickets, the court records said.
Over $100,000 worth of tickets had been sold, the informant told state Charitable Gaming Commission officials, with thousands of dollars of profits not being properly accounted for.
According to the affidavit, a subsequent investigation by the commission of Moran and Sons Inc. also revealed that their invoices did not reflect the true product sold: instant bingo tickets.
``Since July 1, 1996, the Virginia Charitable Gaming Commission . . . has received numerous complaints from concerned citizens related to embezzlement and other fraudulent activities involving the sale of instant bingo tickets in the Tidewater area,'' the Baltimore County search warrant affidavit said.
Ray Conner, Chesapeake's Commissioner of the Revenue, said Friday he did not know whether his office had received complaints about the Deep Creek Baseball Association's bingo operation when bingo regulation fell under his authority. The state Gaming Commission assumed that authority last July.
``If we had any sign that there (might be) money being embezzled, we would have been proactive,'' he said. ``This has been a shock to me.''
Conner said his office did not have the authority to audit an out-of-state bingo supplier.
The state Gaming Commission executed the search warrant on Moran and Sons on Feb. 3 and seized invoices from a bingo supply manufacturer to Moran and Sons. They also seized invoices from Moran to four charitable gaming associations in Virginia, one of them the Deep Creek Baseball Association.
While declining to comment directly on the investigations, Gaming Commission Chairman Edward J. Fuhr said Friday his agency will pursue allegations of illegal charitable gaming in and out of Virginia.
``We have received 200 serious criminal complaints in the last several months. . . this is just the tip of the iceberg,'' Fuhr said.
The future of the state Charitable Gaming Commission brightened Friday when a conference of the state Senate and House of Delegates agreed to keep the commission alive until at least 1999, commission officials said. In addition, localities will not have the chance to opt out of the state regulatory system for gaming under the new plan. Some legislators had sought to limit the commission's authority.
Both bodies of the Assembly still need to act on the compromise plan before the session ends today.
Daniel B. Moore, president of Deep Creek Baseball, said Friday he had not seen the Baltimore search warrant affidavit.
But Moore said West told him he switched bingo suppliers occasionally to keep them honest. West declined comment on Friday. He earlier characterized the investigation as harassment.
Moore said because the association knew bingo suppliers were regulated, he didn't suspect the system could be abused.
KEYWORDS: INVESTIGATION BINGO GAMING COMMISSION
EMBEZZLEMENT