Gambling 911 – On Friday January 17, 2014, Teddy Dryden Mitchell, 59, of Oklahoma City, was sentenced by United States District Judge David L. Russell to serve 27 months in federal prison for running an illegal gambling operation, announced Sanford C. Coats, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.
On September 24, 2012, an 81-count federal indictment was unsealed charging Mitchell and other individual defendants with crimes involving an illegal gambling operation and the money laundering of proceeds derived from that operation. Specifically, the indictment alleged that the defendants (1) operated “high stakes” poker games from a residence located at 640 N.W. 150th in Oklahoma City; (2) took bets and wagers on sporting events on behalf of betting clients; (3) used an illegal Internet gambling website in interstate and foreign commerce for the benefit of betting clients; (4) laundered the proceeds of illegal gambling activities; and (5) committed various crimes related to the operation of an illegal gambling business, including, but not limited to, interstate travel in aid of racketeering and use of a wire communication facility to transmit betting information.
The indictment alleged that Teddy Mitchell organized poker games at the residence and also operated as a traditional bookmaker by taking sports bets for clients both in person and over the phone. Later, it was alleged, betting clients were provided a password to access a Costa Rican sports betting Internet website. It was alleged that to further their gambling operation, the defendants conspired to launder more than $8.1 million in money derived from the gambling operation.
