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Elderly Alabama Woman Arrested for Gambling, Yet Again
A Cullman, Alabama woman was charged on Thursday with misdemeanor possession of gambling devices and of promoting gambling- for the second time.
The first time that Opal Christine Johnson, 72, was arrested was in March 2002, when she and seven others were arrested in a gambling raid and charged with possession or gambling devices and with promoting gambling.
Eventually, the charges against Johnson and the other seven accused, including City Councilman Wayne Walker, were dismissed. Then Cullman County District Attorney Len Brooks explained that the charges had been dismissed for several reasons, including the fact that the accused promised to never take part in gambling in Cullman County again.
"There were several things taken into consideration regarding these cases. If you recall, there was a lot of discussion at the time as to what constituted gambling when it came to video poker machines, and we were hoping that a higher court and possibly the state supreme court would step up and provide us with a definitive ruling. We're still waiting for such a ruling," Brooks said.
"Another factor was the cost involved. To prosecute a case such as this requires the testimony of an expert, which was going to cost us around $300 an hour. That expense alone would have totaled close to $30,000 and frankly with the financial restraints facing the court system at that time and today to some degree, I couldn't justify it. We just didn't have the money in our budget," Brooks said.
"We decided then to do the next best thing which was get the parties to agree to never again engage in illegal gambling activity here and the machines that were confiscated would be sent out of state, never to be used in Alabama again in exchange for the charges being dismissed."
In light of the fact that Johnson is alleged to have broken her agreement with the District Attorney's office, Brooks said that he was pleased that his successor as DA was resolved to prosecute her.
"I was glad to read Wilson's (District Attorney Wilson Blaylock) comments the other day when he reiterated that his office would prosecute violators of the local ban on video gambling machines," Brooks said.
Brooks commented that the current situation will make it easier to prosecute illegal gambling offenders that it had been during his term in office.
"One thing I feel will help in the prosecution of those cases statewide is the fact that the Attorney General's office has retained the services of an industry expert who can be provided to testify in state cases at no cost to the individual counties."
Also arrested following the series of raids that uncovered Johnson's illegal gambling activities was Hurdline McCroy, 65, of Cullman. The police confiscated 27 video gambling machines, in total, from the two women.
Johnson and McCroy own and manage Home Sweet Home and Home Sweet Home No. 2, respectively. These are home decorating businesses which police say are really fronts for illegal gambling venues.
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