Massachusetts Man Pleads Guilty To Illegal Sports BettingAlleged Underground Gambling Conducted Via Phone |
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A Massachusetts man has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to jail in connection with running a “large-scale” illegal sports betting operation, state Attorney General Maura Healey announced.
Lonnie Hillson, age 59, pleaded guilty in Middlesex Superior Court to the charges of Organizing and Promoting Gambling, Registration of Bets, Use of the Phone for Gambling, Conspiracy to Register Bets, and Attempted Extortion (1 count each).
Following the plea, Judge Patrick Haggan sentenced Hillson to serve one year in the House of Correction with three years of probation running concurrently with the committed sentence.
“This defendant ran an illegal and predatory criminal enterprise that pushed bettors into debt and tried to extort an undercover officer for money,” AG Healey said. “We are grateful to our partners in law enforcement for their assistance in bringing this defendant to justice and shutting down this operation.”
Hillson was indicted on the charges in December 2018 following an investigation by the Massachusetts State Police Special Service Section and the AG’s Gaming Enforcement Division into organized crime related to illegal gambling and money laundering. Authorities also charged 10 other individuals as part of the operation, including Hillson’s father and his mother.
“The target of this investigation ran a venture that violated numerous laws and profited by driving gamblers further into debt, exacerbating their destructive behavior,” Colonel Christopher Mason, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, said. “I thank Attorney General Healey for her oversight of this effort and commend the work of several of our units that historically have interdicted predatory gambling enterprises, our statewide Special Services Section, the Gaming Enforcement Unit within the Attorney General’s State Police Detective Unit, and our Technical Services Unit.”
The Hillsons were operating the illegal gambling operation out of their Melrose homes. They took illegal bets exclusively over the phone, while other individuals assisted them in attempting to extort money from an undercover Massachusetts State Police Trooper who had infiltrated the illegal gambling organization.
The indictments followed the execution of a search warrant at more than eight residences, two businesses, five vehicles and almost a dozen bank accounts, where investigators recovered betting slips, gaming ledgers, paperwork related to illegal gaming, parlay cards and tens of thousands of dollars in cash.
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