OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – Three years before Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez was arrested in connection with an illegal gambling operation, video obtained by News 6 shows Lopez’s deputies stumbling upon a ‘casino’ allegedly linked to their boss.
As the deputies conducted a routine business check at Eclipse Social club in late 2022, records show they discovered “casino style digital slot machines” and other illegal gambling devices.
On the same day the deputies visited the establishment, state prosecutors claim the gaming room’s owner exchanged text messages with Lopez.
“Your deputies is at the eclipse,” Krishna Deokaran reportedly wrote in a text message accompanied by a photograph of one of the deputies.
“Let me know if they say anything,” Lopez replied, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Deokaran later told state investigators he gave Lopez between $600,000 and $700,000 in proceeds from the gambling business, often placing the cash in manila envelopes, court records show.
Prosecutors allege Lopez used his influence as sheriff to protect the gambling operation.
Lopez has pleaded not guilty to racketeering charges and is awaiting trial.
“You are relying on fragmented evidence to create a fundamentally misleading impression on this complex criminal matter,” Lopez’s attorney Migdalia Perez told News 6 in response to this story. “By selectively presenting facts, you are simply manufacturing a biased narrative against Mr. Lopez.”
Last year Deokaran pleaded guilty to money laundering, a felony punishable by a maximum of five years in prison. He will be sentenced on an undetermined future date.
Four others, including Lopez’s estranged wife Robin Severance Lopez, have pleaded guilty or no contest to crimes stemming from the state probe.
In September 2022, records show four Osceola County deputies performed a “routine business check” at the property on West Irlo Bronson Highway because the building’s previous tenant, a restaurant and Hookah lounge, had attracted criminal activity.
Video from the deputies’ body-worn cameras show a security guard opening the front door of Eclipse Social Club as the uniformed law enforcement officers walked inside.
[You can watch the footage below]
“During the business check I witnessed a room containing what appeared to be numerous casino style digital slot machines,” Deputy Sheriff Christopher Rumbaugh wrote in an incident report.
The report noted that some of the machines displayed payouts in excess of $10,000.
Rumbaugh documented several possible violations of state law related to the security guards’ uniforms, weapons, and identification documents.
The business also failed to display its occupational license as required by county ordinance, the incident report states.
While the deputies were inquiring about the license, one of the security guards placed a phone call to a man named Chris, video footage obtained by News 6 shows.
Court records indicate Deokaran used the nickname Chris.
“If (your license) is not available for us to review, you can’t run your business. You can’t operate,” one of the deputies told the man on speakerphone.
“We do have a license,” the man responded.
The deputies exited Eclipse Social Club about a minute later without taking any immediate action to close the business, the video shows.
According to prosecutors, Deokaran sent a text message to Lopez that same morning about the deputies’ visit.
“He said I have shut down,” the text message stated.
Lopez responded to the text message about two hours later, court records indicate.
“I’m here bud,” the sheriff allegedly texted Deokaran. “You should have no issues.”
In September 2022, the same month the deputies conducted the business check, records show the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation received a Crime Line tip that Eclipse Social Club was “operating as a casino”.
Court records do not indicate whether personnel from the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office or someone else provided that tip to multi-agency task force.
Eclipse Social Club remained open for nearly two more years until state agents executed a search warrant at the business in August 2024.
In January 2025, five months before agents arrested Lopez, Rumbaugh was interviewed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
“I found it very suspicious in the fact that we got a business operating in Osceola County that had no paper trail on it,” Rumbaugh told state investigators. “It was basically an electric casino.”
While speaking with FDLE, Rumbaugh described an exchange that occurred during the 2022 business check that was not recorded on his body-worn camera because the device reportedly malfunctioned.
While Rumbaugh was talking on the phone to the establishment’s owner, the deputy claims the owner said he was very good friends with Lopez and had the sheriff’s direct cell phone number.
Rumbaugh told FDLE that he immediately reported his findings about Eclipse to two of his supervisors at the sheriff’s office.
The deputy also recalled drafting an email to another supervisor who happened to work with the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation, records show.
All three supervisors reported to Lopez, Rumbaugh noted.
The deputy told FDLE he was originally concerned he was going to get in trouble for going to Eclipse due to the sheriff’s alleged friendship with the owner.
But Rumbaugh said two supervisors told him, “Don’t worry, we got your back and so does (a supervisory captain).”
Rumbaugh told state investigators that Lopez “knew everything that was going on” at Eclipse and “the Sheriff was good with it and saw no problem,” court records state.