Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Game room figure held again

A man arrested in the Hernando County video slot parlor case in December is arrested in Bradenton.n A man arrested in the Hernando County video slot parlor case in December is arrested in Bradenton.

By JONATHAN ABEL
Published June 7, 2006

Charles Bartlett's luck ran out again on Monday.

Two weeks after signing a plea deal in his Hernando County game room case, Bartlett was arrested in Bradenton for keeping a game room, according to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office.

His arrest came as part of a crackdown that closed 16 game rooms in Bradenton and served 20 arrest warrants.

"Everybody assumed they were perfectly legal," Bartlett said from his Hudson home on Tuesday. He had been working as manager of Spin-A-Mania for a few months when the raids took place.

"There was no warning and I'd just as soon not get into it until I get some attorneys involved," he said.

For a while, the video slot parlors in Bradenton were ignored by authorities, but in January the Manatee County Sheriff's Office began an investigation.

"These things were popping up all over the county and people were asking us about it. 'Are these things legal? What's going on?' " said Dave Bristow, Sheriff's Office spokesman.

"We think what has happened is other counties have done this and people have tended to migrate here. Case in point with this guy. Hopefully, they'll get the message and pack their bags and leave."

Bartlett was first arrested on Dec. 20 at his Spring Hill game room.

On May 22, he pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge of possession of a coin-operated gambling device and, in exchange, the State Attorney's Office dropped the felony charge of maintaining a gambling house.

At the time, Bartlett said he hadn't done anything wrong, but just "ran out of money for attorneys."

The latest arrest won't affect his plea agreement, said Mark Simpson, the prosecutor who handled his Hernando case. But Simpson said the case in Hernando could be used to show that Bartlett knew that operating a game room was illegal.

Simpson also said that investigators had visited the one Spring Hill game room that has reopened, Spin City, and that he could make a decision soon about whether to close it.

For his part, Bartlett, who is not affiliated with Spin City, said the State Attorney's Office had already ruined him financially. And he wasn't sure what he would do next.

"Maybe I'll dig ditches," he said.

Jonathan Abel can be reached at jabel@sptimes.com or 352 754-6114.

[Last modified June 7, 2006, 07:27:07]