BCSO raids 2 illegal gambling sites operating near homes, schools
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SAN ANTONIO – A raid on two different buildings by the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office early Wednesday yielded dozens of illegal eight-liner machines, weapons, stolen cars, cash and drugs, according to Sheriff Javier Salazar.
Investigators with BCSO’s Organized Crime Unit along with members of the SWAT team stormed the two sites before 6 a.m. Wednesday.
One building is located in the 2000 block of Guadalupe Street, while the other is in the 1200 block of Bandera Road.
Salazar said both are nondescript buildings but were contained behind fortified gates with armed gang members guarding them.
He said the SWAT team had to ram the gate at the Guadalupe Street site in order to gain entrance.
“We’ve got weapons. We’ve got stolen vehicles at both locations. Minor drugs right now at this point,” Salazar said.
He said they also found thousands of dollars in cash at each site, along with dozens of eight-liner gambling machines.
In addition, deputies took an unknown number of people into custody at both sites. It was not clear right way whether all of them would face charges.
“With an organized crime group, like an outlaw motorcycle gang, operating in the middle of a neighborhood, obviously bad things are going to happen,” Salazar said.
What was especially concerning, Salazar said, was that this alleged illegal activity was happening within residential areas. In both cases, he said, the buildings were located near elementary schools.
“Kids going to school back and forth through here and you’ve got organized crime going on,” he said. “So we’re happy to shut both of them down for now.”
Salazar said investigators were still in the process of gaining access to all the eight-liner machines to determine how much money they contained.
