Three people accused of running an illegal gambling establishment in Texarkana, Texas, were indicted by a Bowie County grand jury last week on charges of engaging in organized criminal activity.
Lee Roy Dailey, 52; Jamie Choate, 53; and James Thompson, 25, allegedly ran a computer gambling business that was advertised by word-of-mouth in a shopping center on New Boston Road in Texarkana, Texas, according to a probable-cause affidavit used to create the following account. Undercover police officers allegedly gambled at the business on multiple occasions in June and July, at times winning and at times losing.Choate and Thompson were allegedly working for Dailey, whose name appears on the lease for the space the alleged gambling operation occupies. Investigators verified that state lottery officials had not licensed the business for any purpose. Texarkana, Texas, officials told investigators the space or business did not appear on a certificate of occupancy with the city.
When officers with the Texarkana, Texas, Police Department's Special Investigations Unit and members of the Criminal Investigation Division went to execute a search warrant on the business July 14, they were allegedly spotted by Thompson, who ran inside.
Thompson, a convicted felon, was arrested in the building "within lunging zone" of a Taurus handgun and a Saiga 12-gauge shotgun, the affidavit alleges. While searching Thompson's pockets, officers allegedly found a baggie containing suspected methamphetamine.
While Choate and Dailey were indicted only for engaging in organized criminal activity, Thompson was indicted on that offense, possession of methamphetamine under a gram and two counts of felon in possession of a firearm with a prior felony conviction.
All the cases have been assigned to 102nd District Judge Bobby Lockhart.