Trio charged in connection with Genesee County illegal gambling facility face June sentencing date
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FLINT TWP., MI – Three people charged in connection with operating an illegal gambling operation in Flint Township are scheduled to be sentenced in Ingham County Circuit Court next month.
Anthony Todd Sutton, Kara Marie Shilling, and Marjorie Jean Brown are each scheduled to appear before a judge on June 1 for sentencing and pleading to gambling-related offenses in April.
“Illegal gambling facilities often target lower income areas and vulnerable populations, and their operations deprive residents of the protections of legal, regulated gaming,” said Henry Williams, Michigan Gaming Control Board executive director. “The MGCB partners with local law enforcement and the Attorney General’s office to investigate reported instances of illegal gambling and help communities close unlicensed and unregulated operations across the state.”
The trio was charged in 2019 following an investigation by the MGCB, Michigan Department of Attorney General, and the Flint Township Police Department into Spin City, a former illegal gambling operation on Miller Road in Flint Township.
Sutton, 53, of Wilmington, North Carolina, pleaded guilty on April 20 to one felony count of conducting gambling operations.
Shilling, 37, and Brown, 53, both of Flint, pleaded guilty to a high court misdemeanor of maintaining a gambling room and a high court misdemeanor count of attempting to maintain a gambling house, respectively.
The charge against Sutton is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $100,000, but the court accepted a plea agreement for no jail time to be imposed at the initial sentencing. Shilling could receive up to two years in prison or a fine of up to $1,000. Brown could face up to one year in county jail.
Flint Township Police contacted the MGCB in June 2018 about reports of illegal gambling at Spin City, G-3490 Miller Road, Suite 5, in Flint Township. Following an investigation that began in July 2018, a cease-and-desist letter was sent in January 2019 giving Spin City two weeks to cease operating.
A search warrant was served at Spin City in late February 2019, and investigators seized 67 computers and slot-style gaming machines, $12,679 in cash and other miscellaneous items related to the operation.
The trio scheduled for sentencing next month are not the only ones who have been charged in connection with suspected illegal gambling activity at Spin City.
David Hoppe, of St. Clair County, was sentenced in Genesee County Circuit Court to one-year probation and more than $1,000 in fines, costs, and fees after pleading guilty to conducting illegal gambling activities and using a computer to commit a felony at Spin City.
He had been accused of supplying illegal gambling games to Spin City between May 2017 and February 2019.
