Six Charged in Illegal Horse Track Case in Oklahoma

07/31/2007 -- Six people arrested during a weekend raid at an illegal race track were charged today in Love County District Court with 12 felonies, including illegal gambling and racketeering.

Jesus Romero, aka Jessie Romero, Geraldo Ruiz, aka Gerardo Ruiz, Martin Treja, aka Martin Trejo, Brandon Hicks, Darl Robert Waterhouse and Michael Phillips are each accused of four counts of commercial gambling, one count of racketeering, one count of conspiracy and seven counts of charging an admission fee to an unlicensed horse racing track.

Romero, 46, is from Thackerville. Ruiz, 46, is from Dallas, Texas. Treja, 35, is from Seagoville, Texas. Hicks, 33, and Waterhouse, 26, are from Marietta, and Phillips, 26, is from Starks, La.

The four counts of commercial gambling accuse the six men of allegedly operating Red River Playgrounds, “a place where persons wagered money on the outcome of horse races conducted at said facility and where persons wagered money on the outcome of dice and/or card games,” according to the state’s complaint.

Seven counts of charging an admission fee to an unlicensed horse racing track in violation of the Oklahoma Horse Racing Act were filed against all six defendants, who are also accused of conspiracy against the state for “wilfully, corruptly, deceitfully, fraudulently and feloniously” conspiring to operate an illegal race track without Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission (OHRC) oversight.

According to the state’s complaint, the defendants committed these crimes from January 2007 through July 2007, and the time and place of the alleged crimes were related to such a degree as to constitute a pattern of racketeering on the part of each defendant.

The OHRC and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation and were assisted in Sunday’s raid by officers from the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Office of Attorney General, Chickasaw Nation Light Horsemen, Love County Sheriff’s Office and the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture. The attorney general’s office and the Love County District Attorney’s Office will prosecute the cases.

Source: State of Oklahoma

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