Friday, March 10, 2000
Legion post's gambles bring losses
Gaming, liquor mean fines
BY SHEILA McLAUGHLIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON — The needy ate at Christmas, the village built a park, and high school athletes got a stadium — thanks to illegal gambling and liquor sales at American Legion Post 615 in Waynesville.
All the while, some village families were doing without because of it, state authorities said Thursday as two legion officers pleaded guilty to gambling charges in a costly plea agreement that left the post's future in doubt.
“I've heard numerous people talk about the charity,” said state liquor Agent Gary Sullivan, whose Cincinnati district office raided Post 615 in October.
“They don't bother to talk about the ladies who send us letters saying their husbands gambled and drank at the American Legion, so there's no money left to pay child support ... pay for groceries, make the car payment.”
The plea agreement cost the legion, known for its largess in the community, about $310,000 in seized bank accounts and certificates of deposit and forced the resignation of its officers and trustees.
The money will be turned over to the Ohio Depart of Public Safety, which conducts liquor and gambling investigations.
Warren County Prosecutor Tim Oliver said he hopes the Waynesville case — thought to be one of the most severe penalties against such an orga nization in Ohio — sends a message to other fraternal groups:
“They've got to clean up their act.”
He said 70 percent of the legion's revenues from its clubhouse activities came from gambling, and 26 percent was the result of liquor sales, which are illegal because the village is “dry.”
The post has roughly 600 members, with annual mem bership dues totaling about $9,000, legion officials have said in the past.
Post commander, Gary Van Nuys, and adjutant, Paul Trimble, a former Marine, face up to six months in jail and fines of $1,000 each when they return next month to Judge Neal Bronson's courtroom to be sentenced on a single count each of misdemeanor gambling.
Mr. Trimble, as chief operating officer, also pleaded guilty to one felony charge of gambling on behalf of the post, which is a corporation. The post could be fined up to $7,500.
Their Lebanon lawyer, William Kaufman, a member of Post 615, thinks they got a break. Both men, as well as the corporation faced heftier charges if the case had been sent to a grand jury.
“A deal we could negotiate that could allow them to reorganize and keep the post (open) is better than fighting all kinds of criminal charges forever and ever,” he said.
As part of the plea, legion officials also must aid in the state's investigation to determine the source of the gambling machines — a probe that liquor agents and prosecutors refuse to discuss.
Thursday's hearing in Warren County Common Pleas Court came less than two years after the legion post was convicted and fined for similar activities.
Acting on an anonymous letter that was confirmed by an undercover trip by a liquor agent last year, authorities again raided the South Fourth Street hall on Oct. 21.
Agents confiscated five video poker machines, tip tickets, a computer and printer, two cash registers, an assortment of beer, liquor and wine, financial records and $2,647.15 in proceeds from the gambling machines.
Four days later, state agents seized the legion's accounts and other investments at Lebanon Citizens National Bank.
Neither Mr. Trimble nor Mr. Van Nuys would comment after the hearing.
“Their mood is reflective of the membership. The membership has a great deal of difficulty realizing that any member should have to take a criminal offense, even if it is a first-degree misdemeanor,” Mr. Kaufman said.
“Essentially, gambling activities enabled them to have a nice facility, to come up with a lot of money every year to give away. They've got this ... Robin Hood kind” of mentality: "It's OK to do a bad thing, if you do good things with it.'””
The fate of the legion post is uncertain, and community benefactors already are feeling the pinch.
Virtually shut down since the October raid, the post has just enough money to get by, Mr. Kaufman said. That meant it could not pay half of a $120,000 pledge it made to the school district to help pay for a football stadium, which opened last year, Mr. Kaufman said.
Post 615 members plan to reorganize and possibly pursue a liquor license through the state so it can sell drinks and bolster income. However, that would require a number of legal steps, he said.
First, the legion would have to dissolve the current corporation, because it can't legally acquire a liquor license with a felony conviction. A new corporation would then have to persuade village residents to pass a ballot issue in November to allow alcohol sales on its premises.
“A lot of "ifs' are coming up in the future. If those things don't fall just right, in order to do what they want to do, they will have to actually move out of town,” Mr. Kaufman said.
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