The Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) announced Friday that three individuals — two of them aged 67 or older — had been sentenced to community service for their roles in an illegal gambling operation in Ypsilanti Township.
Seventy-seven-year-old Cecil Robertson, 67-year-old Beverly Weatherspoon, and 36-year-old Angela Amperez-Lopez were each fined and ordered to perform community service after pleading guilty to a high court misdemeanor of “maintaining a gambling house for gain,” according to an MGCB press release. Another defendant, 43-year-old Timothy Reardon, was sentenced to a year of probation and fined after pleading guilty to attempted gambling operations.
The mastermind of the operation, which featured 37 illegal gaming machines and computers, was 70-year-old Connie Durham, who owned Stony Creek Internet Cafe. It was there that gaming agents seized the machines, along with $6,012 in cash and gift cards. Durham’s criminal exploits earned her a year’s probation and 50 hours of community service — as well as the nickname “the Gamblin’ Granny of Ypsilanti.”
“My department remains committed to upholding Michigan’s business rules and regulations, and that includes our state’s gambling laws,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in the release. “I appreciate our partnership with the Michigan Gaming Control Board, and for their hard work in combatting these illegal operations which divert taxes and revenue from our communities.”
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