No problem, of course. Just like you, I am hating that this happened. I'm waving bye-bye to a nice part of my income, and a game I thoroughly enjoyed 3 nights a week.

Why in the world would they take the TVs, computers and change jar? WTF do any of these items have to do with the poker & drug charges?

Definately was a safe, clean game. No problems with neighbors, no one selling drugs, no thugs, no nothing. Just a retiree, 4 serious minded military guys, an engineer, a teacher and some friends.

Maybe this sort of police blotter story just doesn't make the press. What a waste of law enforcement resources our anti-poker laws are. I hope this case goes nowhere but into the dismissed bin. You should contact the PPA.

They will take anything they can remotely connect to the game. The three tvs were mounted on the walls around the tables, so since they are part of the games set-up, they took them. The change jar in the back really pissed me off. They said it must be a "tip jar".

As for the real reason...once cases like this are finished, these items are entered in the the departments online auction. More $ for the Richland County Sheriffs Department. Like SCAly said, there were a bunch of deputies being paid overtime for this raid on our little vipers nest. Now, they can fund their next raid, too. Maybe they will actually stop a crime that has victims.

It's a bureaucracy, schmend. The warrant says they're looking for an illegal gambling establishment, and should confiscate anything related to that enterprise. Ie, cash (change jar = cash, ldo), gambling equipment, any records (take the whole computer, we'll sort it out at the lab). The TVs I guess are part of the attraction. By that logic, they should have taken the glassware, but ianal. Neither are the cops. It's entirely possible that they overstepped when taking the TVs, and will have to give them back.

My law enforcements friends both say it just depends on what sort of news day it was. There were a few murders and a major pot bust the same day. I guess we don't rate coverage. Fine by me.

SC law enforcement is a joke. I was at a game that got busted a little over a year ago and have basically stopped playing since then, so I'm glad I wasn't there this time. But I feel bad for everyone there, and the mindset of the judicial system down here is ******ed. Playing a game that is on TV all the time is looked at as a horrible crime, and getting the charge taken off my record took a year and $1k+. As mentioned before, they find a reason to take everything involved in the apartment (change jar, give me a break) because they can.

The information continues to pour in. Turns out there is not a property seizure law for gambling in SC, it only applies to large drug raids and that clearly doesn't apply to us. But none the less they take the tvs and then we have to fight to get them back. The best part is the 22 year old millitary kid who works at the hospital on Fort Jackson and was the RAT.....well he was facing a forceble rape charge from April, 2010 and the cops dropped his chargers for turning in our game. It's nice to know the cops are putting rapists back on the street just to get poker players off the street. So the moral is be sure to support your local sheriffs department folks

Yeah, I can believe this.

While not related to poker, something very similar happened in Volusia County, Florida (Daytona Beach) in the mid-90s. The county sheriff decided that the state's contraband seizure law allowed him to simply stop motorists, confiscate any large sum of cash that was found, and not give it back. In about 75% of these seizure cases, no arrest was made and no charges were filed, and a significant majority of those stopped were minorities. Of course, the Sheriff's Office kept 50% of everything they seized. When the problem came to light, a state "task force" wrote a report and the practice quietly went away, but nothing was ever done to reimburse those who made the mistake of driving I-95 with a wad of cash and the wrong skin color.

SCaly, I sincerely wish you good luck in getting your stuff back, but don't get your hopes up.

All the players were eventually released, yes?

If I worked for a paper, I'd be interested in that story...

But just for perspective, the cops didn't know what kind of game they were busting before they busted it. They're not omniscient, and obviously only talked to one player ahead of time, getting the wrong picture entirely.

ianal, but I'm guessing the seizures were for evidence, and will be returned after the legal case is settled.

You must have never been to SC

well.... if they hadn't found drugs that would be an easier statement to make. Sounds like they thought this was a drug raid, in part.

I find this a little hard to believe, and even if it is he will almost certainly still be prosecuted under the UCMJ if the military knows about it. Someone with this kids details should probably send an email to the hospital or base Commanding Officer to make sure they know about this.

WTF ???

Confirmed. A friend from a different game with law enforcement ties found this information. Now, its a fact he was charged with forceable rape. Our understanding is that the victim is not cooperating, so the charges weren't moving along.
Seems that charges or no charges, the cops used this to coerce his cooperation for a poker game they wanted to bust. They heard about the game through a bust at another game. They tried to use a regular player to get them a warrant. But he's a standup guy, didn't roll over to get his previous gambling citation dropped.
This kid was obviously scared by their threats to inform his CO.

**** tha police

This is insane.

A quick update...he is NOT getting charges dropped for his cooperation. The victim is not pressing charges. However, as he is military, the cops seem to have told him he had to cooperate unless he wanted this "complaint" of forcable rape brought to his superiors. Either way, cops just flat out suck.

Hey I lived In RI where the State Police Busted a Hi Low Jack Leaque with 8 state police and they had one playing undercover for about 8 weeks.

And RI Is a Left wing bankrupt state. Just goes to show just about all politicians are corrupt.

All i have to say if we live in a free and equal society everyone should pay the same tax percentage and be able to gamble whenever and wherever we want.

wow, i just moved to myrtle beach from atlantic city, nj.....why does this seem like a mistake? lol

do they charge the players when this happens or only those running the game?

I'm also curious about this... (although I figure @ least everyone gets fined)

Well.... Americans always vote for politicians that campaign for tougher laws and more cops. Have you ever heard a politician say "we have to many cops." After all these years of tougher laws we are feeling the pressure. Police is a huge business and they have to justify all the money spent by enforcing minor laws. There are not enough serious crimes to keep the police busy. Violent crime statistics are way down in the US. At the same time the number of police has sky rocketed. You will be seeing more of these types of raids for minor violations of the law in the coming years.

I love when a random Canadian comes in to criticize the US without any real idea of what is going on beyond what they read in the news.

Hey, remember that woman who got a $400 ticket because she wouldn't put her hand on the hand rail on a Subway escalator? Canada must be a Benevolent Socialism out of control in their zeal to protect their Citizenry from themselves.

Ya know what? That IS kinda fun.

Back to the topic.

I wonder if a few well written letters to the local Police AND papers might be helpful? I'm sure they'd hate the publicity.