About the only piece of evidence the prosecution didn’t have in the murder case against 20-year-old Patrick Fluker was an eyewitness testifying that he was seen shooting 29-year-old Tiffany Mendez in the head.A local leader of a non-profit organization and four other men face multiple felony charges in connection with the operation of a now-shuttered local charity gambling casino.
Ralph White, 54, of the 2800 block of Hanna Street, faces felony charges of corrupt business influence, theft, unlawful charity gaming contracting and professional gambling.
White runs White’s School of the Arts Community Development Programs, a non-profit organization that he has said offers 24-hour day care for about 90 children, educational programs and athletic programs, including martial arts.
Also identically charged were Larry L. York, 46, of the 3400 block of Kendale Drive, and Charles I. Keller, 67, of the 11400 block of Westwind Drive.
White, York and Keller are all listed on state gaming forms as the operators of what was once the Parnell Poker Palace and Casino, which operated at 4608 Parnell Ave. from December 2008 to June 2009. Visitors to the establishment could play poker, craps, roulette and blackjack three days a week from noon to 3 a.m.
Edward Miers, 46, of the 2600 block of Kingston Point, and George Kotsopoulos, 51, of the 8200 block of Fawncrest Place, are each charged with felony promoting professional gambling, conspiracy to commit unlawful charity gaming contracting and conspiracy to commit professional gambling. Kotsopoulos owned the building used by the Poker Palace.
A former Komets hockey player, Kotsopoulos is no stranger to controversy at establishments he owns. A strip mall owned by Kotsopoulos was raided in 2006 over reports of illegal gambling with Cherry Masters machines.
In 2002, a club co-owned by Kotsopoulos and in the same building drew fire for repeated violations of the city’s noise ordinance. The case eventually went to court, with a magistrate ruling in favor of the city.
For a while, White’s School of the Arts was a “qualified organization,” allowing it to obtain an Annual Charity Gaming Night License. At the time, Indiana law allowed non-profit groups and charitable and fraternal organizations to obtain a license to sponsor gambling events for charity.
But after stories about White’s operation appeared in The Journal Gazette just more than a year ago, state lawmakers amended the laws making charity gaming licenses available only to veteran and fraternal organizations.
White and York both spoke out against the proposed changes last winter, claiming they operated their casino in accordance with state law. In February 2009, York told The Journal Gazette he went to an all-day seminar set up by the state before the casino’s opening that was to teach operators about the charity gaming laws. York claimed he and the organization filled out the necessary paperwork and did everything properly.
But court documents filed Wednesday in Allen Superior Court outline a different operation, one working outside the boundaries of state law.
White, Keller and York recruited and hired dealers and pit bosses and paid them cash, according to court documents. They enlisted “investors” to help finance the Poker Palace and split the revenue between themselves and White’s School of the Arts.
State law forbids anyone from being paid a salary at a charity gaming facility, and all proceeds from the games must be used by the qualified organization for charitable purposes. The rent charged to the casino must not be based on the proceeds from any event.
Keller told investigators he was brought in to offer financial backing to the casino and intended to make a profit out of it. An acquaintance of Keller’s, Miers was also brought in to help financially. Keller owned the gaming equipment and leased it to the Poker Palace, according to court documents.
York said Keller told him to lie on the application, saying he’d been affiliated with White’s for more than two years.
According to the lease agreement signed by Kotsopoulos and York, Parnell Poker Palace was to pay no more than $2,400 a month in rent.
Court documents allege Kotsopoulos was being paid $20,000 a month in rent and that he came up with the idea to have all paid workers sign “volunteer” slips.
Dealers and floor-crew workers told investigators they were paid from $10 to $30 an hour, court documents said.
White’s School of the Arts never filed a charity gaming report, state officials said.
But Shannon Hill, a dealer who faces other felony charges accusing him of counterfeiting poker chips, told investigators the Poker Palace grossed about $100,000 a month, with the blackjack room alone pulling in enough to cover all the expenses necessary to run the operation, according to court documents.
Hill told investigators he overheard Kotsopoulos saying he “had a casino,” which he assumed referred to the Poker Palace, according to court documents.
Hill is scheduled to stand trial this year.
Poker Palace money was deposited into a Wells Fargo Bank account under the name of Ralph T. White, doing business as White’s School of the Arts.
In the application for the charity gaming license, White reported the separate bank account for the casino would have been at Salin Bank and under the name “White’s School of the Arts.”
The Indiana Gaming Commission investigated the case.
Niki Kelly of The Journal Gazette contributed to this story.
