May 11—Anniston police seized several illegal gambling machines at two locations Wednesday after numerous community complaints, authorities say.

Upon executing search warrants at 627 South Noble Street and at 1128 Clydesdale Avenue, police found and confiscated around 25 illegal gambling devices, according to Anniston police Chief Nick Bowles. He said his department is also aware of multiple other locations that are still under investigation.

“We are aware of several other establishments and will be working to conduct similar operations on them in the near future,” Bowles said.

Bowles said this case is still very early in the investigation process, and warrants for multiple arrests will be placed once the evidence is fully gathered and processed. However, several people were detained during the search of the locations.

When asked whether the same person(s) were behind the establishments, Bowles said that there are multiple.

“What they do is they rent these buildings from the owners — and sometimes the owner knows, sometimes they don’t — but they put these gambling machines in there,” Bowles said.

In the past, Bowles said police would arrest anyone inside the gambling establishments; people who worked there or people who were gambling. However, he said currently the department “tries not to do that unless we have to,” and police wait to see what the evidence shows before making arrests.

“These things lead to other charges. We’ve been in these establishments where we find guns, we find narcotics, and we find other evidence that leads to other charges down the road. So we always keep those options open,” Bowles said.

More information will be reported as the situation unfolds.

Staff Writer Ashley Morrison: 256-236-1551. On Twitter: @AshMorrison1105.