At least four people arrested following poker room raid in Katy

These places that are operating illegally cause a lot of problems for the ones that are operating illegally with the law. So we're listening in right now to that press conference in the Katy area, again, into this illegal poker ring that we understand the DA, Sean Teer, is at as well. There are ways inside Texas law that poker rooms can operate. They can't take what's called a rake of every pot because that changes the odds for everyone at the table. It's legal in Texas for people to have a game of chance as long as everyone at the table has the same odds. So, now You see these establishments that are operating inside the bounds of the law make their money from different things, from sales of beverages and food, from renting time at the table. But when you see these organizations and these entities that are strictly taking rakes, that are operating so far outside the law, that that's where, as Captain Santos says, You start to see the criminality really expand. You start to see narcotics. You start to see a lot of other types of crime that go out and impact people's quality of life. In a lot of ways, this is no different than when you all used to see me out at after-hours clubs and things of that nature. You're just adding on a different layer of potential victims and additional crime. And so being able to come in and, This is the second operation that the DA's office has been a part of in the last three weeks. We are charging individuals here with engaging in organized criminal activity. And additionally, we believe that there will be money laundering charges as well. Well, um... We know. We know how to impact these organizations and these people. It's by taking the money that they make illegally, and that's what we're doing right now. As Captain Santos said, we're going to be initiating our search, we will likely be seizing some money, we're going to be doing a lot of different things, and this investigation doesn't stop now. This is really, to an extent, where it begins. We're going to be tracing bank accounts. We do a lot of different things behind the scenes to continue to hold people accountable. Thank you. Randy, I'll go first and then you. So there are a lot of ways that we determine where investigations are going to go. If I were to be too candid with you, I think Captain Santos would tackle me right here. So we're not going to get into specifics, but this isn't something that was a fly-by-night operation. We've been working and looking at this location and at a number of others that you will see in the future. This is not a one-off issue. We understand that this is a problem countywide. And it's something that all the agencies are partnering together to stop. That's something that we're going to continue to dig in, obviously, as we find more tonight. And further, we're going to be able to figure out whether this is a one-off establishment or one that is into a number. Randy, you were asking me about it. That's right. And what we did, as we do in all of these cases, You identify everyone involved that's there playing, and I don't know if you guys were here yet, but they're escorted out, and they didn't break the law. How many do you imagine were arrested? As four. Four. There's four right now for sure. You mentioned that these poker rooms have additional criminal activities. Have any evidence yet that this poker room specifically was? But we're not sure yet, these are long-term investigations. And what the DA said, we'll eventually start looking at financial records and other things and see where it leads us to. It may not lead us anywhere, they're just taking the rake here. Or it could lead us to long-term other crimes. Well, we'll see, hopefully. I mean, and there's a lot of agencies that come together for this. Obviously, the police, the DA's office. We have Texas Financial Crimes. We'll eventually bring other agencies in that do their portion of the investigation. And we'll work in collaboration with them to see if it's something we can shut down or if they pop up just somewhere else with a new place. And... Look, I have a background that Santos and I both do in going after establishments similar to this. And what we were very successful in, in the after-hours clubs and in a lot of different... Organizations like this is going after it in a number of ways, obviously having Texas financial crimes here, but also going and working with the county attorney's office and the DA's office. Randy, you and I sat outside of a bar where we shut it down for 45 days because one of the biggest problems is, will they be blowing and going tomorrow? And we've got to ensure that we can come at this in every way possible to stop exactly that. So. So I'll just touch on a little bit and let Captain Santos get into what he feels is right. They were people that were not just players. They were people that were operating this establishment tonight. And again, this didn't start tonight. We've looked at it, we've identified individuals, and we knew people that we were looking for when we got in. Yeah. I'm sorry? Un poquito. So most of the people that we arrested, they were already part of the investigation. So we knew who they were. They're operating here, and they're operating in a variety of different ways. It could be the doorman who's allowing it. It could be the dealer. It could be the money room. So there's just a bunch of different people that are in there. Once we identify, okay, this guy works here, she works here, now they're on our list. They may have a small part, but that small part turns into a big part. So it could lead to other stuff. Illegal establishment. There are establishments that are not illegal that are doing it quite frankly the right way that recognize that when you're walking out of a place like this with a lot of money, you need additional security. You need to be as an owner or an operator of one of these places. You need to have security to make sure that there's not someone that's working with a partner outside to send a text and say somebody just walked out with a lot of money. There are places in Harris County that are doing it safely and correctly. And it makes it more difficult for good establishments to run when you have criminal establishments like this. Sorry, Fox. It sucks. Nope. I'm thinking maybe over a year right now. Thank you. I think right about a year this investigation has been on. And do you know if the owners here owned any other property? We don't know that yet. How long ago? We don't know that. That'll be part of the investigation. That'll definitely be part of the investigation. Were the players cheated by this? So the players are cheated in that they are losing a percentage of their take when they win a hand. Whereas in a place that rents a seat or a place that just charges for the drinks and the food, what you win is what you win, which is the way that Texas gambling laws are written. Certainly not from our office, but you know, it, look, again, anybody that knows me knows that sitting behind a desk is, is tough for me. Um, I, I just want... Law enforcement to know that I'm here with them, that I'm backing them up. And I know that these are quality of life crimes. These are affecting not just the people here, but the radiation of crime out of these places affects everyone in Harris County. So I It's not a specific bus that I'm at. It's just something that I think is an important part of my job to be out here and support. Are the people here tied to any other groups that you know of? We don't know that yet. There's a likelihood that they are. But that's something that future investigation into this is going to... Do you have any idea how much money they may have reaped out of this? If If they've been going for a year, I would venture a guess that it's a significant amount of money, but we haven't even completed the investigation and the search tonight to see what we're talking about cash on hand, let alone all of the banking records that will go along with this investigation. Can I ask you a question? Say that again? The percentage was that they would take it? We do know, but we don't want to disclose that just yet. I'm almost 100% sure they did not know. That's not, if somebody takes money from you that shouldn't have it, it's going to upset anybody. And if they put a sign up saying the rake is this, it would kind of be highlighting that they're committing a crime. Can I ask you a question on something else? Sure, I can't wait. Did anybody look in on this on how the grand jury? So the grand jury was held over. Um, at their request. And so now we have a definitive timetable, uh, which is 90 days from the date that, that they got held over. Uh, so we're, we're, we now kind of have a timeframe that we can talk intelligently about. So it should not go far into the new year. Okay. It's good to see most of you, not on the side of a road, but we kind of is. All right, guys. Thank y'all very much. Thank you. All right, so that was DA Sean Teer there. And you heard one of the reporters even ask him, how come you're out here at 9.30 on a Thursday night? He said he wanted to be there to show law enforcement officers. He is there to support them. But essentially here, we have an illegal gambling situation at this poker room in Katy. Essentially, some of the people working there were taking some of the money And making it an unfair practice, so it became illegal there. So it sounds like, based on the way they framed it, this investigation has been going on for quite some time. And tonight's the night when they decided to move on in. So our Randy Wallace is at the scene there. Brandon, if we can, let me know if Randy's able to get back to us. We can have a little conversation here real quick. So once Randy's hooked up, we'll be trying to get some more... Answers out of Randy there, some of it was a little difficult to understand, but Randy being on the ground gives us the option of having a conversation with him. So again, this is this Katie poker room. You see a significant police presence there after at least two people, it sounds like were taken into custody in regards to this illegal operation taking place inside. The D.A. Chantier there on scene. Okay, Randy's getting back in front of the camera there, so we'll give Randy a second to give us some more details and insight. He was also pretty careful and not sharing too much information, because it sounds like they're also keeping an eye on other poker operations across his jurisdiction as well, where an arrest or something like that may come in the future. So he was very particular about what he was able to share and what he wasn't able to share. Yeah. But again, we want to get back out to our Randy. Hey, Randy, can you give us a little summary? Thank you very much. The press conference started while we were in the commercial break, so give us a little recap here. What was said? Sure, now they've been looking at this place for about a year, the Harris County DA's office and the sheriff's office. The reason they're saying that this KD poker establishment is illegal is they're saying that those running the game, those operating it, they were taking a rake. They were taking a percentage of the winnings, which that's what makes this illegal. They've arrested four people and they're facing different charges that they haven't been charged at this point. They're still inside right now. This is an ongoing situation there. They're collecting evidence there. They're gonna have to go through bank records. They've got a lot to do to determine exactly how much money was allegedly taken by the four people operating the game. Now those playing the game, They're not arrested, they don't have anything to worry about as far as any kind of criminal charges. One of the things that Sean Teer pointed out, when you have establishments like this that are allegedly operating illegally, it's crime sort of spills over into the surrounding area, The surrounding businesses, you end up having, according to Teer, drug issues and shootings. And there can be violent crimes that can come out of having an illegal gaming operation, which again, that's what they say this was, Anthony. It was interesting to see the DA, Sean Teer, on the scene of an investigation at 930 on a Thursday night. Touch on that for a little bit for us. But I will tell you when Sean was in charge of the DWI task force, I can remember times in the past, it was bombshells. There was a bombshells that there had been a lot of illegal activity according to the DA's office. There was one instance where someone. Drove away drunk and killed a person and Sean was out there many times. I remember being out there one August day when evening and we're all sweating and he was out there. That's kind of like he said in the press conference, he's not really gonna sit behind the desk Kind of guy, he likes to be involved in this sort of stuff. And back when he was in charge of DWI cases, you would see him at almost every fatal instance involving a drunk driver. So it's really not that unusual to see him be this involved with the process. All right, Randy, thank you so much for your reporting there. Much appreciated.