Written by Ben Cox – The Brownwood Police Department and the Brown County Sheriff’s Office performed three simultaneous raids on three “8-Liner” gambling establishments today.

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BPD Chief Terry Nichols said “This is the culmination of a promise we made to these establishments this summer. I hand delivered a letter informing them they were suspected of operating illegal gambling parlors and that we would revisit them and shut them down. We keep our promises.”

Nichols continued” We have ben getting the most complaints about the three facilities we are focused on today. That family members, mom, grandma, dad, are in here blowing food money, money they can’t afford to lose on gambling.”

James Stroope, of the Brown County Sheriff’s Office, says this type of establishments is a draw for all walks of life, often with some surprises. “It’s sad to see city and county employees in there, people you know.”

Sheriff’s Office deputies were working as carefully as they could to open the machines and remove the motherboards, preventing the machines from being used while the investigation continues. “This keeps our space used in storing this stuff down a lot” says Nichols.

Nichols continued “With the amount of cash often stored in places like this, it increases the chances that robberies can occur. Sometimes drug deals have been known to go down in places like this. It just brings more crime to the neighborhood.”

Gambling in these establishments is a Class C Misdemeanor, however the police department declined to press charges on those found in the buildings today. “Operation of such a business is a Class A offense, under the Texas code on gambling” according to Chief Nichols.

The three locations raided today were “King Diamond” inside the old King’s Grocery at 711 3rd Street, “Wild Cherry” at 1015 N Fisk (Next door to KFC), and “Gold City” at 1501 Marketplace (Near the intersection of Mulberry and Belle Plain, close to the Stripes gas station). The Sheriff’s Office handled the King Diamond and Wild Cherry locations, while the Police Department worked the Gold City establishment.

This is not the last of raids like this, says Chief Nichols. “There are more establishments that we will be visiting. We have a list.”

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