“Operation Last Man Standing”

Sheriff: Bribe offered to keep illegal activity under radar
Jordan-Ashley Baker

SHELBY — A Gaston County man faces charges of bribing an undercover deputy in the hope of keeping his illegal video gaming businesses in Cleveland County under law enforcement’s radar.

More than $24,000 in bribes and three illegal gambling machine raids later, officials say Artie Stevenson Smith’s luck ran out. Sheriff Alan Norman said the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office conducted “Operation Last Man Standing” on Wednesday to end 63-year-old Smith’s alleged illegal video gaming business and months of bribery.

Norman said Smith approached a Sheriff’s Office narcotics sergeant in the hope of protecting his video poker businesses on South Post Road in Shelby and Cherryville Road in Waco. That meeting tipped off a more than four-month-long investigation into Smith, his video poker business and allegations of bribing a government official.

“This sends a statement that this agency has zero tolerance when it comes to public corruption,” Norman said. “When his deputy was approached, he immediately informed his supervisor, and it immediately became an investigation with the Sheriff’s Office narcotics division.”

Norman said the sergeant met with Smith nine times – eight of which Smith gave the undercover officer cash payments ranging from $500 to $10,000. In total, Smith paid out $24,500 in cash, Norman said.

Smith was arrested Wednesday and both of the gaming businesses he allegedly operates were raided simultaneously. Norman said deputies removed 26 video gaming machines used for Smith’s illegal gambling operation.

Sheriff’s deputies hoisted the large black machines onto hand trucks Wednesday, strapped the machines tightly into place and wheeled them into a trailer emblazoned with the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office logo. Sheriff’s vehicles in the parking lot of Susan’s Sweepstakes aren’t an unfamiliar sight for neighbors and passersby on South Post Road.

Wednesday marked the second time in as many months that the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office raided Smith’s business and seized the gaming machines. Norman said Smith refurbished his business with more machines since the first raid, and, to date, the Sheriff’s Office has seized 42 of Smith’s machines.

‘A law enforcement nightmare’

The bulky machines, painted black with gold trim along the edges, had TV monitors to view the games and slots where dollar bills could be inserted. Norman said illegal video gaming machines are a multibillion-dollar industry with cash profits.

Smith, a convicted felon, had more than $3,600 in cash in his possession when he was arrested, Norman said. Officers executed a search warrant at Smith’s home on Anne Neely Road outside Gastonia, where they found a handgun, according to Norman.

North Carolina passed a law banning video poker machines in 2006. Sweepstakes machines replaced video poker in the following years as trial judges ruled that the video poker statutes didn’t apply to some types of electronic sweepstakes devices. Lawmakers voted to make sweepstakes gaming illegal last year, but the judges continue to hear challenges to the law in North Carolina courts.

“It’s my wish that the General Assembly would undertake the study of video poker and legalize it through the state of North Carolina or make it totally illegal to possess the machines, because it is a law enforcement nightmare,” Norman said. “And this is a prime example of what could occur in a neighboring county or in any county in North Carolina. It’s something that the state needs to decide what they’re going to do with these machines or this industry.”

Norman two other Cleveland County video sweepstakes businesses, that are no longer in operation, reported armed robberies at their locations where perpetrators displayed handguns.

Smith is charged with eight counts of bribery of a government official and two counts of felony possession of video gaming machines. Officers took Smith to the Cleveland County Detention Center on Wednesday, and he was given a $500,000 secured bond. Norman said Smith’s first court appearance is scheduled for today.

Law enforcement officers from Gaston County and Shelby Police Department assisted the Sheriff’s Office with “Operation Last Man Standing.”