Landis business owner charged with operating illegal gambling establishment
Published 11:10 am Tuesday, May 12, 2020
LANDIS — A Landis business owner was charged Tuesday with offenses related to operating a gambling establishment after a monthlong investigation by the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office.
Jack Lewis Faggart Jr., 59, of China Grove, was charged with two counts of operating/possessing a slot machine, permitting the use of a slot machine at a location under his management or control, possessing gaming machines that allowed the machines to exceed the limits of eight accumulated credits or replays and operating more than five video gaming machines.
Faggart, the owner of Snack Shack, was operating under the guise of being a convenience store/landscaping supply business in Landis, the sheriff’s office said.
The sheriff’s office served a search warrant April 16 at the business, located at 3125 North Cannon Blvd.
The search warrant was based on an undercover operation and citizen complaints that the business was a gambling establishment and also violating the governor’s stay-at-home order, according to the sheriff’s office.
The investigation showed that the Snack Shack had 19 gambling machines, all slot machines, a news release said. These gaming machines operated with several types of software. Officials said 13 machines had money receivers and some still had currency in them. The machines allowed patrons to bet more than eight credits, which violates state law. The business allegedly was paying cash for winnings, another violation of state law.
During the search of the business, detectives seized six central processing units connected to gaming terminals, three motherboards, one server, documents and $11,343 in cash. Records showed that the gaming machines were taking in more than $10,000 per week and profiting multiple thousands of dollars per week, a news release said.
On Tuesday, April 28, additional search warrants were executed by the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office at the Snack Shack and a second location. Investigators seized documents and an additional $13,920 in cash.
At the time of the execution of the search warrants on April 28, Faggart was also cited for violating the governor’s executive order.
Faggart was released on a written promise.