Cape Coral police allege 89-year-old ran illegal gambling arcade

CAPE CORAL, Fla. (WINK)—An 89-year-old man has been arrested and accused of operating an illegal arcade and money laundering.

James Leslie Graham is charged with using proceeds from racketeering activity, establishing a gambling place, fraud and money laundering over $100,000 in the last 12 months. This isn't Graham's first run-in with law enforcement.

Authorities say undercover detectives already seized contraband from his arcade last summer. The investigation has been going on for about a year, all centered around Graham.

WINK News dug through court documents, which say Graham was the subject of two contraband forfeiture cases filed by the Cape Coral Police Department last year. More than $60,000 was seized from slot machines at Senior Chuckie's, which authorities say Graham owned under the Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act.

Any personal property like money, vehicles, boats or slot machines intended for illegal gambling is considered contraband and subject to forfeiture by law enforcement. Over the past year, local law enforcement agencies and the Florida Gaming Commission have busted several illegal arcades in Cape Coral, seizing hundreds of slot machines and thousands of dollars.

• RELATED: Illegal arcades in Southwest Florida linked to rising crime rates

Bob Jarvis, a Nova Southeastern University gambling law professor, says these illegal arcades target the most vulnerable.

"They take advantage of vulnerable populations like the elderly," Jarvis said.

By playing the machines, people are more at risk than they think.

"Nobody opens one of these illegal gambling arcades simply to serve the elderly or other people who might want to, you know, drop a little bit of money," Jarvis said. "Typically they are open for other nefarious reasons, money laundering being number one on the list, because these are cash businesses, and they are extremely profitable to operate, because the machines don't cost very much, you know, to rent, you don't need a big staff, you don't need a particularly trained staff, and so you know it's almost always the case that there were nefarious activities going on."

If you or someone you know is struggling with a gambling addiction, call the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling at 888-ADMIT-IT. Cape Coral police say more information on this arrest is expected soon.