WARREN - Two people charged with illegal gambling following a Jan. 11 raid at Wild Cherry Gaming parlor pleaded guilty Monday - a legal resolution that will bring no jail time, but could net the police department $100,000 if the gaming machines are sold at auction.
Phillip M. Cassidy, 60, and Janet K. Cassidy, 60, both of 428 Laird Ave. N.E., have been free on bond since their arrest March 21. Warren Assistant Law Director Traci Timko Rose said each pleaded guilty in Warren Municipal Court to a single count of public gaming, a fourth-degree misdemeanor. Both were fined $100 plus court costs.
She said the Cassidys were employees of Wild Cherry, 2671 Youngstown Road S.E. A third suspect, Michael Pesola of Park Ridge, Ill., who Timko Rose said was the parlor's operator, waived his right to a jury trial Monday and is expected to plead to the same charge Nov. 20, Timko Rose said.
Phillip Cassidy was originally charged with nine criminal gaming-related counts, and Janet Cassidy had faced five criminal counts before the plea deal. The remaining charges were dismissed in exchange for their pleas.
Timko Rose said part of the plea agreement was that the Cassidys and Pesola forfeit any interest in the 20 gaming machines and several thousand dollars in cash seized during the raid. She also said the Cassidys asked the judge if they could delay paying their fines until Pesola enters his plea.
Warren police detective Jeff Hoolihan said a forfeiture hearing will be held in court sometime in the next month during which someone can claim ownership of the seized machines. He said because the machines are illegal in Ohio, they are considered contraband and therefore cannot be returned to the owner.
He also said whoever claims the machines likely would be charged with possession of criminal tools.
''Since that is not likely to happen, the machines will be turned over to the police department, and we will sell them at a public auction,'' Hoolihan said.
He said the machines are worth approximately $5,000 each and could be purchased by owners of gaming operations in other states where the operation is legal. Proceeds from the sale would go to the department's forfeiture fund, which is used for equipment and training.
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland signed a law Oct. 25, 2007, making the skill games featured at parlors such as Wild Cherry illegal. The gaming law strengthens the definition of the ''skill-based'' machines that are legal, and limits payouts to prizes worth $10 or less - such as those at Chuck E. Cheese's.
Games of chance are illegal in Ohio, but some machines such as Tic-Tac Fruit exploited a loophole that made a game legal if it was slightly more skill than chance. Strickland and then-Attorney General Marc Dann rallied for months to pull the plugs on the games with little success, but the state got the ban it sought through Ohio lawmakers.