Video Poker 247
- Illegal Video Poker Sentencing
The case keeps getting thicker for the men involved in the illegal
video poker scandal that rocked North Carolina. The key figures in the
Henderson Amusement Inc. end of the video poker ring were sentenced on
Wednesday, but the judge chose to delay their imprisonment so that
they could be called as witnesses at the trial of former Buncombe
County Sheriff Bobby Medford.
The men all apologized for their behavior and their roles in the video
poker ring, and the judge told them that as long as they continued to
help the FBI with bringing the rest of the participants to justice
they could end up with reduced sentences. As it stands, they are all
looking at jail time.
James Otis Henderson is looking at six years in prison for the bribing
of law enforcement officials and for running the illegal video poker
machines. His younger brother Barron Sloan Henderson is looking at a
year in prison for conspiring to commit money laundering and running
the illegal video poker business.
Harold Steve Hartness is looking at three and a half years for witness
tampering. Hartness was the private investigator that the company’s
attorney hired and he coached witnesses how to lie to the grand jury.
Jerry Pennington, who paid the actual bribes, is looking at five years
in federal prison as the judge felt that the bribing of law
enforcement officers was a much worse crime than running illegal video
poker machines.
Back to
February 2008 Archive
