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Seven people arrested after gambling busts in Cordele

The Georgia Bureau of investigation released a statement saying seven people were booked in the Crisp County jail after five search warrants were executed Tuesday.

Crisp County Sheriff Billy Hancock says 5 locations were involved in illegal gambling.

Authorities say Darrell Owens, Jarvis Fudge, Tommie Benson,William Carter, Sandra Faye Brown, and Teresa Wright were all charged with felony commercial gambling. Karen Dunlap says she has lived in Cordele for over 20 years and was surprised at the raid.

"This type of activity takes away from households that need the money for raising children," said Dunlap.

The Georgia Bureau of investigation's Commercial Gambling Unit, the Mid-South Narcotics Task Force, the Crisp County Sheriff's Office, the Albany-Dougherty Drug Unit, the Georgia Lottery Corporation, and the Georgia Department of Revenue executed the search warrants.

"I think people are down and out, they don't have lucrative jobs to make lucrative salaries," said Dunlap.

Dunlap says it isn't a good look for 4 of the locations to be in her hometown, Cordele. The last location is in Albany.

"It just surprised me that it happened so quickly after the last raid," said Dunlap.

The GBI released a statement saying investigators found unlicensed gambling machines where customers were receiving cash payouts for winning credits. In Georgia, the Coin Operated Amusement Machines (COAMS) must be properly licensed by the Georgia Lottery and credits may only be redeemed for lottery tickets and/or store merchandise, according to the press release from the GBI.

"We can help build up our community and get away from the stigma of being one of the poorest cities in the state of Georgia," said Dunlap.

Sheriff Hancock says it was an intense investigation, and some of the people arrested, may have been released on bond Wednesday.

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