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Three San Angelo Residents Arrested for Engaging in Organized Crime

A 32-year-old San Angelo man who was wanted on an outstanding arrest warrant for engaging in organized crime was located and arrested by San Angelo Police during a traffic stop early Monday morning. 

Robert William Pierson, Jr. was identified as a passenger during the traffic stop that occurred around 3:00 a.m. at N. Main and Preusser Street.  He was taken into custody and transported to the Tom Green County Jail without incident and booked for Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity.   

Pierson, along with co-defendants Tera Rockay Chaplin, 46, and James Chaplin, 60, were indicted by a Grand Jury earlier this month stemming from a 2016 joint-area law enforcement investigation of illegal gambling activity at Chadbourne Gold, a gaming spot located at 2821 N. Chadbourne.  Tera Chaplin and James Chaplain were also arrested Monday by Tom Green County Sheriff Deputies in an unrelated incident. 

On October 13, 2016, members of the San Angelo Police Department’s Street Crimes Division, Texas DPS, and the Tom Green County Sheriff’s Office executed an Evidentiary Search Warrant at the establishment at the direction of State District Judge Ben Woodward. 

During the search, Investigators seized numerous items consistent with Texas Penal Code Sections 47.03 Gambling Promotion, Section 47.04 Keeping a Gambling Place, Section 47.06 Possession of Gambling Devices, Equipment, or Paraphernalia, and Section 71.02 Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity. 

Area Law Enforcement Officials will continue their investigation of local establishments and their business operators who furnish and maintain sweepstakes and gambling machines as such establishments serve as a breeding ground for further criminal activity, such as robbery, drug use or trafficking, violent crimes, and other felonious offenses.  The continued operation of such establishments poses a direct threat to the welfare and safety of the citizens of San Angelo and Tom Green County. 

Chadbourne Gold was one of the twenty-three establishments within Tom Green County that received cease-and-desist notices issued in August, 2016.   

 

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