Saturday, March 17, 2007

An Indiana State Police officer was placed on desk duty Wednesday after he
was cited in connection with a raid on a Northeastside poker club. Trooper
Kyle D. Freeman, 30, a seven-year veteran assigned to the Indianapolis post,
faces a preliminary charge of illegal gambling, a misdemeanor. He was among
60 people who police said were playing poker Tuesday when Indianapolis
metropolitan police vice officers shut down the Indianapolis Pinnacle Club
in the 3900 block of Pendleton Way. An internal investigation will be
conducted, 1st Sgt. Dave Bursten, a State Police spokesman, said in a
written statement. Freeman is a canine officer whose dog, Dudley, is named
in honor of Lt. Gary Dudley, one of two riders killed last year when a truck
crashed into a group of bicyclists in western Indiana. Dudley and the other
cyclists were raising money for a charity that supports the families of
fallen officers. Freeman could not be reached for comment.
The 60 poker players, including Freeman, were issued a court summons and
face preliminary charges of misdemeanor illegal gambling. The players were
men and women ages 18 to 70 who live in Marion, Hancock, Morgan and Hamilton
counties, police said. Police did not release the names of the other players
Wednesday.
Police arrested three men they said were running the games -- Ryan Roe, 36,
Donald Kincaid, 65, and Richard Harvey, 28 -- on felony charges of illegal
gambling.
Kincaid faces an additional charge of carrying a handgun without a license
after officers found the weapon in his boot, police said. Harvey was
arrested on a warrant charging him with contempt of civil court. The raid
was the culmination of a yearlong investigation, police said. Officers
seized about $6,000 from the establishment, in addition to poker chips,
computers, flat-screen monitors and other gambling paraphernalia. Police
said it appears the poker club ran games seven days a week. The building is
south of Pendleton Pike and west of I-465 on the Northeastside. Wally
Shearer, 48, a car dealer who describes himself as a semi-professional poker
player, said he is a regular at the Pinnacle Club and other area poker
rooms. Shearer was not in the club Tuesday, he said, because the $25 buy-in
tournament running that night was too small for him. "There's hundreds of
players in Indianapolis who want to play tournament poker," Shearer said.
"I've been going there for about two years and never had a problem." Shearer
does not know Freeman but said he knows at least three other local police
officers who regularly played at the Pinnacle Club. Shearer declined to give
their names.