| |
Cops: Bar knew gaming is illegal
Published: 2005-04-30
 Apr. 30, 2005
Cops: Bar knew gaming is illegal
Charges in poker raid are detailed
By BILL HETHCOCK THE GAZETTE
A Mexican restaurant in Palmer Lake where a poker game was raided Tuesday illegally profited from Texas Hold ’Em games, solicited poker players and overcharged gamblers for beer, according to court documents released Friday.
Jeff Hulsmann, 48, part-owner of Guadala Jarra, will be charged Wednesday with allowing illegal gambling at an establishment licensed to sell liquor, a felony that carries a penalty of up to three years in prison and a $100,000 fine. Hulsmann also will be charged with professional gambling and operating a gambling premises, which are misdemeanors.
Twenty-two other people arrested in the raid will be charged with professional gambling, which carries a penalty of up to 18 months in jail and a $5,000 fine, said Diana May, chief trial deputy for the 4th Judicial District Attorneys Office.
The gambling raid was the first of its type in El Paso County in more than 10 years, Chief Deputy District Attorney Doug Miles said. About three dozen people were arrested in late 1993 and charged with misdemeanors when police raided gambling dens on East Pikes Peak Avenue and North Circle Drive.
Search warrant and arrest affidavits released Friday outlined alleged violations found by two state Liquor Enforcement Board investigators and four Colorado Springs vice squad detectives in a monthlong undercover investigation.
A bartender and other restaurant employees asked investigators posing as diners if they wanted to play poker, the affidavits say.
When they agreed, the investigators were allowed to buy into the game for $15 and assigned a seat at a table of card players they didn’t know, the investigators wrote in the affidavit.
Guadala Jarra charged 75 cents more for beers in the poker room than in the rest of the restaurant and kept onethird of the money put into the pot from the 30 or so players who showed up each Tuesday, the affidavits say.
Under Colorado law, it is illegal to play cards for money outside casinos unless the players have a social relationship beyond gambling, and no one takes a cut for running the game.
One organizer told an undercover detective the game was “technically illegal, but it was OK if you drink alcohol,” the affidavits say.
The games were organized by the Elephant Rock Texas Hold ’Em Poker Club, the affidavits say. Club founder Stuart Currier, one of the people charged with a misdemeanor, told an undercover detective he approached Guadala Jarra’s owners about hosting poker tournaments to increase their business, the affidavit says. Currier’s lawyer declined to comment.
Hulsmann said beer prices might have been different because happy hour ended. He denied taking a cut of the pot and denied doing anything illegal.
“All the restaurant did was allow the (poker) club to use space,” he said. “It was no different than what we would do for the Kiwanis Club or the Rotary Club or the Chamber of Commerce.”
He theorized that law enforcement is trying to use his restaurant to send a message to the growing number of restaurants and bars that offer the increasingly popular Texas Hold ’Em tournaments.
“The gaming commission is getting heat from the casinos,” he said, “because the casinos think these games are taking money from their pockets.”
| |
Small-town poker bust criticized as overblown
Published: 2005-04-29
 Apr. 29, 2005
Small-town poker bust criticized as overblown
By JANE REUTER THE GAZETTE
PALMER LAKE - Several Palmer Lake residents say Tuesday night’s gambling bust at Guadala Jarra restaurant was poorly handled and unnecessary.
Restaurant owner Jeff Hulsmann faces felony and misdemeanor charges for allegedly hosting gambling activity in a licensed liquor establishment and on suspicion of professional gambling, has hired an attorney. He maintains his innocence.
Town board member Trish Flake, who was served a misdemeanor summons for suspicion of professional gambling, said none of the 24 people arrested during the police raid thought they were engaged in illegal activity. They were among 81 members of a poker club playing at the restaurant that night.
“It was broad daylight right by the front door,” she said. “I think what hasn’t been reported is the aggressiveness of it. They came in with guns drawn, lasers trained on people’s heads. They swarmed in screaming, ‘Put your hands over your face and don’t move.’ I don’t think I’ve ever been that frightened in my life.”
Palmer Lake Police Chief Dale Smith defended the tactics: “It’s standard habit and practice for these kinds of situations.”
Most of those officers were from the Colorado Springs Metro Vice, Narcotics and Intelligence Unit, not the Palmer Lake Police Department. Nevertheless, Hulsmann, Flake and other residents are placing blame for the incident on Smith.
Smith, a 30-year Palmer Lake police officer, said an officer reported to him in late January she’d seen apparent gambling in the restaurant. Smith asked her to prepare a report, which he turned over to state liquor enforcement officials.
Board member Chuck Cornell said the situation didn’t have to go that far.
“Why in the world didn’t our police chief go down there months ago and say, ‘Jeff, this doesn’t look like the right thing here. Why don’t you knock it off?’ ” he said. “We’re a small town. Everybody knows everybody.”
Smith said he’s often warned people they were breaking the law instead of arresting them. But this was a different matter.
“Normally, we don’t give warnings for felonies,” he said, adding he abandoned the small-town approach because the case was complex.
“We were uncertain whether it was legal or not,” he said. “That’s why we referred it to state liquor enforcement.”
Hulsmann, who also owns O’Malley’s Pub in Palmer Lake, has been operating businesses there for 19 years.
Hulsmann, 48, is chairman of the town’s fireworks committee, helps organize the annual fishing derby and heads the Awake the Lake volunteer committee dedicated to refilling Palmer Lake.
“We had a professional relationship,” Smith said. “He’s a hard-working business owner. I’ve dealt with him like any other citizen.”
Hulsmann isn’t so sure.
Until recently, poker games involving money were also regularly played at The Bowling Alley, another Palmer Lake establishment. Hulsmann doesn’t see a difference between the two.
Bowling Alley bartender Pat Duffy said managers there first checked with state officials to ensure they were following the rules.
Smith said The Bowling Alley, unlike Guadala Jarra’s, wasn’t advertising the games and that the same half-dozen people played each time. It was not an organized activity, he said.
The Bowling Alley plans to hold games again, Duffy said, offering not cash but prizes to game winners.
Still, Hulsmann questions every aspect of the bust, including a press release that states officials seized more than $3,000 in cash.
About $2,400 of that, he said, was money returned to him Tuesday by a former employee arrested for stealing from Hulsmann. Smith confirmed one of his officers saw the woman give the money to Hulsmann.
It was more than likely among the seized cash, the chief acknowledged.
Hulsmann said the players each put $10 or $15 into a pot that was to be divided among the eventual winners of the tournament.
“If I knew it was illegal, would I be doing it in a front room with a window and a hallway where even casual patrons could see it?” he asked rhetorically. “There are no secrets here.”
Although poker players played for money, cash was handled by officers from the Elephant Rock Texas Hold ’Em Poker Club, said club founder Stuart Currier. Poker money never stayed in the restaurant overnight, and Hulsmann didn’t charge entry fees, Currier and Hulsmann said.
| | |
English
Deutsch
Español
Français
Italiano
Nederlands
Pусский
Svenska