A West Logan
restaurant owner has been charged with laundering cash proceeds of an illegal
gambling operation.
Federal prosecutors filed the charge against
Gregory A. Dotson, 51, of Chapmanville.
According to the information, since May of
2008, Dotson operated an illegal poker machine gambling parlor in the back of a
tobacco store in South Williamson, Kentucky
Although payouts from poker machines, often
referred to as “gray” machines, are illegal under Kentucky
Prosecutors say Dotson retrieved the proceeds
from the illegal gambling operation weekly and brought the cash across state
lines to his office at Giovanni’s in Logan
County
They say he then mixed in the cash from his
legitimate business with his illegal enterprise.
Prosecutors say on August 16, 2010, Dotson
traveled from West Virginia to Bristol , Tennessee
In October 2013, IRS agents raided the
gambling parlor, and seized 40 machines in operation and another forty machines
in storage.
If convicted, prosecutors want Dotson to
forfeit nearly $150,000 in cash, a $96,000 Mercedes sport-utility vehicle, a
$50,000 Rolex watch, several expensive firearms, in addition to the eighty gray
machines that were seized from the South Williamson operation.
In addition to the forfeiture, Dotson faces up
to ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.
