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Wed, Aug. 22, 2007
Ex-GM at Woodlands charged in betting scandal
By RICK ALM
The Kansas City Star
Former Woodlands General Manager James Gartland was charged Wednesday with seven felony counts stemming from his role in a betting scandal that cost him his job earlier this year.
Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison charged Gartland with three counts of making false information and four counts of computer crimes, all non-person felonies that officials said carried a penalty of 7 to 25 months in prison.
Morrison also said that Gartland’s whereabouts were unknown and that the state was seeking the public’s assistance in finding him.
The Kansas City Star last month disclosed that Gartland had landed a job managing a race track under construction on a Caribbean island.
In an e-mailed response to The Star today after the charges were announced, Gartland said he had no comment.
The criminal charges grew from incidents two years ago. Last year the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission fined Gartland $300 to settle disciplinary allegations that claimed on four occasions in 2005 he had improperly “enlisted” the same track patron to place bets ranging from $280 to $500 in a special Tri-Super pari-mutuel pool — without putting any money down.
The commission alleged that Gartland wrote off those wagers as “customer relations” while violating state gaming regulations by “having enlisted a patron to place a bet on his behalf.”
At the time Gartland said he had solicited the patron’s wagers to bring the Tri-Super wagering pool up to a required minimum $5,000 to allow the pari-mutuel betting format to proceed.
The commission could have levied more than $5,000 in fines or revoked Gartland’s license but agreed to settle and close the matter.
When the commission later sought to remove Gartland as general manager he sued in Wyandotte County District Court and won a temporary injunction against the state agency. He later settled the matter out of court and resigned in April. |
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发表于 2007-8-23 09:06
