DATE: Friday, November 21, 1997             TAG: 9711210640

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   82 lines

BINGO FIGURE SENTENCED TO 1 YEAR, LARGE FINE YOUTH BASEBALL LEAGUE WAS VICTIM OF SCHEME.

George West, the former bingo manager at Deep Creek Baseball Association, was sentenced Thursday to a year in jail, ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and told to stay away from bingo for three years for his crimes against the youth baseball league.

Jail time as punishment on a gambling conviction is unusual in the state, authorities said Thursday. But the amount of money alleged to be involved in the illegal gambling scheme also was unusual: nearly a quarter of a million dollars.

``I came here today thinking he should get some jail time,'' said Assistant Attorney General Russ Stone, who prosecuted the case. ``I think it's appropriate because of the message it sends, that if you're going to do this kind of thing you're going to go to jail.''

West's attorney, Patrick H. O'Donnell, spoke on behalf of his client, who declined to comment. ``We're disappointed that he received any period of incarceration given the facts of the case, given what we believe was Deep Creek's knowledge and consent to the game operating in violation of the statute,'' O'Donnell said.

However, Edward J. Fuhr, chairman of the Virginia Charitable Gaming Commission, said the sentence ``reflects the gravity of what has occurred.''

``It is a message to those who doubt the consequences of violating Virginia's charitable gaming laws. . . . The commission will not rest until the other Mr. Wests that are preying on Virginia's charities are brought to justice.''

This is the first instance of anyone receiving jail or prison time since a major bingo fraud investigation in Henrico County about three years ago, which resulted in several people receiving prison terms, Fuhr said.

Before the judge pronounced sentence, West told him that the charges had already changed his life. West said people in his middle-class neighborhood no longer speak to him. ``There's a lot of this I consider that was wrong,'' West said. ``But in three years, I made over $300,000 for Deep Creek Baseball.''

Circuit Judge S. Bernard Goodwyn then sentenced West to pay a fine of $25,000 for the misdemeanor charge of winning by fraud, before suspending $15,000 of the fine. He also ordered West to stay away from bingo for three years. That sentence is consistent with one the judge imposed in a related case against Rogelio Legarda, a bingo player who briefly served as Deep Creek's accountant.

The judge also sentenced West to five years in prison for running an illegal gambling operation before he suspended four years, saying that West can serve his time in a local jail and be screened for work release. West is allowed to begin serving his time Jan. 2, 1998, and will be on unsupervised probation after his release. Running an illegal gambling operation is a felony punishable by one to 10 years in prison.

At his trial in September, West was acquitted of seven counts of embezzlement and one count of conspiracy to embezzle.

Prosecutor Stone had argued for a more severe sentence. He wanted West to pay restitution of $54,000 and serve five years in prison for running a year-long gambling operation that grossed $243,020. That amount represented the gross sales value of instant bingo tickets purchased off-the-books.

``I think there's the tendency to slap people on the wrist for white collar crime,'' he said. ``But there are victims to what Mr. West did. Those victims are the children who did not benefit from that money. . . . This was nearly a quarter of a million dollars that Mr. West was running through his gambling operation.''

Deep Creek Baseball has about 600 youth players on about 50 teams. Baseball officials had hoped to build a baseball complex at an estimated cost of $1 million. They wanted a permanent place for their games, which are now played on city fields.

Defense Attorney O'Donnell had argued that West should receive no jail time and said that Deep Creek officials knew that workers were being paid and accepted the benefits.

``Deep Creek Baseball can't come in here and paint themselves as a victim; they are at best an accomplice,'' O'Donnell said. ``They went so far as to ask Mr. West and others to lie to the IRS and to do it in writing. . . . The evidence showed that Deep Creek Baseball knew what was going on. They didn't stop it, and they didn't stop it because it was making too much money.''

Deep Creek Baseball officials have denied any knowledge of the illegal activity. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

George West KEYWORDS: BINGO FRAUD SENTENCING

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