Two Year Investigation Unveils State-wide Gambling Operation
Mar 20, 2018, 8:14 PM
SALT LAKE CITY — The Attorney General’s office has wrapped up work on an statewide gambling investigation that took nearly two years of investigation and negotiations.
In a press release today the Attorney General’s office said the operation stretched from Cache County down to Washington County.
“These illicit gambling operations involved and attracted other types of illegal conduct, causing local law enforcement and city attorneys serious concerns,” said Sean Reyes, Utah Attorney General.
In March of 2017, Assistant Attorney General, Steven Wuthrich, said they had enough evidence to file search warrants for 118 businesses across the state.
“That’s after about a year long investigation,” Wuthrich said, “And they lasted about three or four weeks.”
Wuthrich said law enforcement arrested several people, including Pierre Marcoux from Florida and John Honeycutt of Weber County, Utah. Both were convicted on two misdemeanor counts of promoting gambling and one felony count of money laundering- with a plea in abeyance. As part of the settlement, Wuthrich said the companies involved agreed to give up their machines and pay back the money they earned.
“Investigators went from county to county to empty out the machines and obtain the hard drives,” Wuthrich said. “The last step in that process was the forfeiture, and that order was just signed a week ago.”
In total, Wuthrich said the Attorney General’s office seized over 900 thousand dollars in money earned illegally through the gambling operation.
