North Myrtle Beach police bust 11 for illegal gambling

After North Myrtle Beach police forced entry inside a condo in Barefoot Resort on Tuesday, 11 people were arrested and charged in connection with illegal gambling.

When police arrived at a Cypress Bend condo, located at 5801 Oyster Catcher Drive, they knocked on the door and said they had a search warrant, according to an incident report.

A person inside the unit then told officers they couldn’t come inside, so officers explained that if they did not open the door, it would be forced open, the report says.

Police say the person replied back, “Then break it.”

Officers then forced entry into the condo, once again announcing themselves and that they had a search warrant. Everyone inside was immediately secured and searched.

“Within the residence, there were clearly marked card tables, ledgers, multiple sets of cards, poker chips and other gaming equipment,” an officer wrote in the report.

Authorities believed everyone inside the condo was participating in “illegal gaming” due to the abundance of evidence in plain view and the layout of the residence.

Online records show the following people were charged with one count of illegal gambling:

• James Micheal Wolfe, 54, of Longs, S.C.
• Steven Blake Teague, 33, of Myrtle Beach, S.C.
• Marilynn Trent Reid, 69, of Winston Salem, N.C.
• Thomas Martin, 64, of Myrtle Beach, S.C.
• Richard Bashar Khoury, 37, of Charleston, W.V.
• Gregory Brian Bell, 44, of Myrtle Beach, S.C.
• Wendy Dawn Johnson, 45, of South Carolina
• Patrick Henry Bogedain, 38, of Little River, S.C.
• John Anthony Corio, 68, of Pinehurst, N.C.
• Edwin Fernando Cubas, 39, of Myrtle Beach, S.C.
• Jody Robert Frei, 43, of Loris, S.C.

All of the arrestees were released from the J. Reuben Long Detention Center on bond later that night.

According to the South Carolina Code of Laws, a person is found guilty of illegal gambling based on the following:

“If any person shall play at a place of gaming or open place at (a) any game with cards or dice, (b) any gaming table, (c) any roley-poley table, (d) rouge et noir, (e) any faro bank, (f) any other table or bank of the same or the like kind under any denomination whatsoever, or (g) any machine or device licensed pursuant to Section 12-21-2720 and used for gambling purposes,” the law states.

This story was originally published January 4, 2018 at 2:40 PM with the headline "North Myrtle Beach police bust 11 for illegal gambling."