OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – Former Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez remains behind bars after his arrest last Thursday. He faces racketeering charges stemming from his alleged involvement with an illegal gambling operation.
News 6 obtained newly released documents that show Osceola County deputies raided the alleged casino months before Lopez was arrested.
High profile criminal attorney Mark NeJame went through the latest documents news 6 got a hold of and reviewed them. He has been involved in several cases involving the former sheriff and the entire Osceola County Sheriff’s office and says he has been concerned about the integrity of the former sheriff for quite some time.
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“I have been amongst the most vocal critics of the way he has run that department. We have seen very questionable activities over and over again on the cases we have been involved with,” NeJame told News 6.
Documents indicate there were many police calls to the reported location of the illegal gambling operation that former Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez was allegedly involved in.
Dozens of calls were made over the years, yet the establishment was not shut down.
[WATCH video below for community reaction to Lopez’s arrest]
There were also several reports of shootings, fraud, armed robbery, and drugs.
This list appears to confirm deputies were at least aware of the existence of some sort of casino on Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway in Kissimmee. That’s because for years, they had been responding to emergency calls long before former Sheriff Lopez’s arrest.
“There is no question that people turned a blind eye here. Some people did. Not all. But those who were in that group, those who were dealing with him... it’s not just one person who was involved with over $20 million of illegal gambling proceeds and what has been alleged to be a racketeering operation,” NeJame said. “So people were looking the other way, and those people need to be looked at, and we can’t look away from them, either.”
According to the criminal complaint, Lopez and at least four others - Ying Zhang, Sharon Fedrick, Sheldon Wetherholt and Carol Cote - owned or operated the million-dollar social club in Kissimmee.
“There is a real perverse irony to this case. Anybody in the know. Those of us in the system are aware of how he would do these perp walks. He would go and jump in front of a camera and go ahead and really vilify or embarrass or shame those who like him are presumed innocent. But he went ahead and would do that almost with glee it seems like and so there is this perverse irony that it’s now happening to him,” according to NeJame.
Lopez remains in Lake County jail with a bond of $1 million.