A Daytona Beach man tried to keep police out of his alleged gambling house when officers showed up with a search warrant and found more than 70 gambling machines and almost $20,000 in cash, court records reviewed on April 14, show.
Daytona Beach police conducted the raid in the 1200 block of North Nova Road at 8:17 p.m. on April 10, and when they breached the front door, they saw more than 20 patrons running for the back exit, court documents show.
Willie Cord, 53, who declined to talk to police, was arrested and charged with keeping a gambling house and manufacturing/owning/storing/possessing/selling slot machines. He was out of the Volusia County Branch Jail on $3,000 bail, records showed on April 14.
A patron managed to get out through the back door but was caught after a foot chase. He also declined to talk to police, court records said.
There were no indications in court records that the customer was charged.
Daytona gambling house had 72 machines, $19,860 cash, police say
According to Daytona Beach police, when they got to the building on Nova Road, which they identified as a gambling house, they heard the front door being locked.
Police announced that they were there with a warrant and when they breached the door, they saw customers scattering and running towards the back door of the business, the arrest report filed with the court shows.
Once Cord was detained, police conducted a search of the building. As they walked through they saw multiple gambling machines, the report detailed.
Some of the machines had money in them, police said.
In all, police seized 68 standalone Fire Link gambling machines, four Fish Table gambling machines, investigators said.
A review of the arrest report shows, police found $19,860 in cash. Some of the money was found in gambling machines and a stash of $10,124 in cash was found in an office drawer with another $1,572 seen in plain view on a table in the office, the report indicated.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona police say they seized 72 slot machines at gambling house
Reporting by Patricio G. Balona, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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