Last week, deputies in Dallas County raided a residential area that had an illegal gambling facility on site, just off of County Road 513.

Sheriff Granthum of the Dallas Sheriff’s office said the discovery of the site was brought to their attention by neighbors within the area who complained about a lot of traffic coming in and out.

“This was in the police jurisdiction but we were over there and we did some research, and our homework and come to find out there was a shed behind that residence and inside that shed, once we did some surveillance on it, we found out there were some gaming devices in there and once we got a search warrant, we went in there and the suspect arrested was 53-year-old Jaser Nimer Khalil.”

Granthum said the shed was quite big where they found Khalil, because there were two big machines in there, bar stools, ashtrays and heaters and over time, Grathum said they gathered information on Khalil that showcased 15 to 20 cars at a time at the residence, even spotting a parking lot carved out for him as well.

Granthum said for weeks they staked out the area and during the actual day of the raid, they confiscated a gun, over $5,000 worth of money that was packaged to go into the machines and said when they arrested Khalil, he had three small children with him, aged three years old to 9 years old.

Soon after, Khalil was taken to the Perry County Jail and was charged with endangering welfare of a child which resulted in a $6,000 bond, promoting gambling, which resulted in an additional $6,000 bond and 17 counts of being in possession of a gambling device, which resulted in his total bond being $114,000.

Granthum said Khalil has made bond and is currently out on bond and he’s just waiting for his official day in court.

“The thing is, a lot of people think gambling is just the machines, but it brings all kinds of stuff from prostitution, robberies to many other things including death, a lot of alcohol on the premises and those people in that community was tired of it and said they have been there in full operation for two weeks.

Granthum said there could be more people charged like Khalil, due to the fact, it is still an open investigation and said they are actively still trying to prove if that homeowner who rented him the shed was aware of the illegal gaming site.

“When we did our first raid, we had assistance from the Attorney General’s office and we sent out what we call a cease and desist letters and we gave them a chance to get out of here,” Granthum said. “Some did, some didn’t. So, we raided those areas and we got over 100 gaming machines that time and we hit them civilly. When I say civil, we froze bank accounts, we froze real estate and we did all kinds of stuff but there was only a few of them charged due to weapon violations, drugs and stuff like that, but not for the actual machines. So, after we did the first raid, I guess he didn’t take it seriously. So now we are charging people criminally. We going to charge you for every machine, if you got 30 machines in there, you are getting 30 counts and people are going to jail because they know not to bring these machines in Dallas County.”

Granthum said if those in the community are caught gambling, he said his team will not only seize bank accounts but their car will be confiscated, including losing assets while simultaneously being charged criminally for the illegal action.