The Grady County Gambling Raid - Part 1
The Grady County gambling scandal is the result of a raid on the Chickasha Elks Lodge on September 6, 2006 by agents of the state Alcoholic Beverage Laws Enforcement Commission (ABLE) and Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers. The raid was conducted at the behest of newly appointed District Attorney Bret Burns.
The raid culminated a year long investigation of alleged illegal gambling activity at the Elks Lodge. An investigation which reportedly made use of hidden audio and video equipment inside the lodge itself. According to the indictment, illegal gambling at the Elks lodge included slot machines, blackjack, lotteries and monthly poker nights with a $50 buy-in.
At the center of this epic scandal are Grady County Sheriff Kieran McMullen, his wife, Chickasha Police Sergeant Helen McMullen, recently retired Chickasha police Lieutenant Jerry Don Tyler and Sheriff's Deputy Robert Clinton Cacy. The four officers were present inside the Elks Lodge, although not in uniform, when the raid was conducted.
The four have been indicted by the multi-county grand jury on felony counts of conspiracy, conducting illegal gambling and being engaged in illegal gambling as a peace officer. They were each indicted on misdemeanor counts of permitting gambling and willful neglect of duty. The felony counts carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on each count, meaning each of the accused is facing up to thirty years in prison.
On September 26,2006 the accused appeared before Comanche County District Judge C. Allen McCall who ordered each defendant to post $2,000 bail. Judge McCall conducted the hearing in the courtroom of District Judge Richard Van Dyck, an Elks lodge member, who recused himself from the case. Following the unsealing of the indictment against the four they were processed through a normal booking procedure and were fingerprinted and photographed. None of the four were handcuffed however.
All of the charges arise from alleged illegal gambling operations at the Chickasha, OK Elks Lodge where Sheriff McMullen is a trustee and his wife Helen is, according to media reports, a frequent gambler.
DA Burns maintains that the investigation shows that the lodge takes in $30,000 a month in gambling from illegal machines and card tables. Burns also maintains that the sheriff and other local law officers were providing the lodge protection for its gaming activities. Burns further alleges that during the investigation, drug deals were negotiated but never consummated in the presence of McMullen and his deputies.
Attorney Ryland Rivas, speaking on the behalf of McMullen has stated that the charges are 'a political witch-hunt' and that games similar to those seized from the lodge can be found anywhere in the county. Rivas also stated the electronic machines were legal, in part because they had stamps of approval from the Oklahoma Tax Commission and were found "in clubs, in bowling alleys, convenience stores, bars and the Hinton Travel Plaza, where the district attorney's brother runs a little casino over there."
Rivas was making reference to 16 electronic gambling devices with jackpots of up to $9,000 located in the Hinton Travel Plaza on Interstate 40. Those gambling machines are distributed by Chase Burns, brother of District Attorney Bret Burns. DA Burns claims the ABLE Commission examined his brothers gambling machines and determined that they are legal since they provide players with a receipt good for a four minute 'phone card'. This 'feature' is not available on the gambling machines confiscated in the raid on the Elks Lodge in Chickasha.
Attorney Rivas has indicated that Sheriff McMullen has no intention of resigning or suspending himself in the wake of the charges against him. DA Burns has indicated that he intends to call more witnesses before the state's multi-county grand jury next month concerning the investigation of the Elks lodge. According to Burns, the investigation focuses on 15-20 people, including seven or eight local law officers.
Commentary and Opinion From Bubbaworld
This scandal is very troubling for a variety of reasons.
First, it involves allegations of large scale criminal conduct on the part of those sworn to uphold the law. Second, it suggests a kind of double-standard on the part of the district attorney, who on the one hand claims 'these gambling machines' are illegal while 'those gambling machines' are not. That 'those' are the gambling machines of the district attorney's brother presents, in the least, an appearance of favoritism.
Both District Attorney Bret Burns and Sheriff Kieran McMullen should do the right thing. Burns should step aside, permitting the Oklahoma Attorney General to appoint a special prosecutor. In the very least, Sheriff McMullen should place himself on suspension until this case is ultimately decided in a court of law.
That neither man has chosen to do so will only result in more problems and embarrassment for Grady County, as the two have offices only a few feet apart in the Grady County Courthouse and the nature of their jobs requires them to work together. Or at least it did.
How can the citizens of Grady County expect country law enforcement to work when the county's two ranking law enforcement officers are locked in a battle that has the potential to send one of them to prison for up to thirty years?
Clearly this is a scandalous case and one where we have only seen the tip of the iceberg. Owing to the diverse membership of the Elks Lodge of Chickasha odds are that not only will additional law enforcement officers be drawn into the scandal but so will other 'movers and shakers' of Grady County.
With so many people just waiting for the other shoe to drop, odds are that Grady County, Oklahoma would be a good place to be from. Far from, right about now...
