Deputies raid illegal gambling operation involving fish-hunting game north of Modesto
Police seized 125 gambling machines and three firearms from an illegal gambling operation at a Tully Road property just north of Modesto, officials said.
Stanislaus County probation officers tracked an out-of-compliance offender with a GPS ankle monitor to the property just south of Kiernan Avenue on Sunday, officials said.
A combined 12 probation and Modesto police officers were part of an operation targeting absconders and people not complying with the terms of their probation or Post Release Community Supervision.
At about 11 a.m., the team tracked 43-year-old Nathan Souza to the property, said Probation Division Director Emily Herrera-Hammond.
She said one man ran from the building housing the illegal gambling operation when officers approached but was quickly detained.
Inside the 2,000 square foot building, which previously has housed several churches, officers found 28 more people, all of whom were detained during the investigation.
Sgt. Josh Clayton of the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department said its detectives had been investigating the illegal gambling operation at the property and responded when they learned probation and Modesto police were there.
He said 125 electronic gambling machines with fish-hunting themed games, as well as a pistol, a shotgun and an AR-15 rifle, were seized.
According to a 2016 Vice article, the “fish game” became popular in Asia more than a decade ago and has become the “arcade cabinet of choice for underground gambling” in the United States.
The machines’ simple control panels have buttons and a joystick. Players pay for credits to shoot not only at fish but sea creatures like whales, sea dragons or monster crabs. The more sea creatures players “kill,” the more credits they earn. Players are paid out the cash equivalent of the credits.
“Even though this is a ‘fishing’ game, it more closely resembles a large, multiplayer turret-shooting arena,” according to Vice.
The Tully Road property where these games were found is divided by a fence with two homes on the north side and the building that housed the illegal gambling operation on the south.
Raman Essa, who owns the property, said he used to use the 2,000-square-foot space as an office when he worked as a real estate broker before the recession. He said half of it is one large open space and the other half is divided into three rooms.
Over the years, he’s rented the space to three different churches, but four months ago, he rented it to a woman named Nichole who said she’d be operating a vending machine repair shop there.
Essa said he quickly noticed red flags: Multiple vehicles were coming and going from the property at all hours of the day and night, and security cameras had been installed around the building.
Essa said he confronted Nichole about his concerns and she offered to pay more in rent if she could stay. He agreed under the condition that her year lease would become be a month-to-month.
But Essa said the problems persisted and on Saturday, the day before the police raid, he served her a 30-day notice.
Essa went to the property when he heard police were there on Sunday and saw Nichole was one of the 29 people in handcuffs.
But she wasn’t one of three people arrested.
In addition to Souza, the suspect for whom police originally went to the property, George Somera, 37, was arrested. He was the man who ran from the building when police arrived.
Somera had a warrant for which he was cited and released, but police found stolen property in a vehicle associated with both Souza and Somera, said Modesto police spokeswoman Sharon Bear. Souza was booked into jail for violating the terms of his Post Release Community Supervision, but Somera had already been released, so a warrant was issued for his arrest related to the stolen property, Bear said.
One more person, Angelina Haroutounian, 52, was arrested on an unrelated burglary warrant, Herrera-Hammond said.
Clatyon said the investigation into the illegal gambling operation is ongoing.
This story was originally published January 23, 2020 at 10:28 AM.
